Thanks For The Memories
by Sirhc Semae
Summary: Vincent Valentine is awakened by a mysterious girl who is running from Shinra. Can he save her? And what is the secret that she holds? VincentxOC Set 2 years after DoC. Please reveiw.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy (even though I wish I did.)**

**This is my first fanfic. Yeah its not very good and my grammar sucks so please reveiw and if you don't like it tell me how to improve. Dont just say it sucks! Oh and i want to know if people like it. If they do, I will post the other chapters. If not, then i wont post anymore. Well I hope that you enjoy reading it. (not like u will)**

**Chapter 1**

Vincent Valentine stirred from his slumber. He grumpily opened his eyes to see a scrawny looking girl staring at him with wide eyes. He was going to ask what she was doing there when screams and shouts interrupted him.

"Where the hell did she go?"

"She can't have got far!"

"Don't worry, we'll get her."

He looked at the girl. She looked as if she'd just come out of a horror film-and had been the victim. He got up and quickly and strode towards her.

"Who...?"

* * *

Rain pelted the ground, making it hard for the girl to see, but she still ran on through the hail and fog. She couldn't stop, even if she wanted to. They would catch her. Then they would take her back to that horrid place. 

Then she saw it. The mansion loomed over her, making her feel as small and worthless as an ant. But she had to enter. If not, she was sure to die. Quickly, she pushed open the huge doors and ran down the hallway. The place looked as if it was centuries old and had never been cleaned. Not like anyone would be crazy enough to clean it. Everywhere she looked was passageways, looming rooms and endless stairways. No good. Sure, they had plenty of places to hide, but she was already lost and how was she going to get out of here? Besides, she was so exhausted that once she fell down, she would most likely never get up again. And this place was crawling with fiends. To have escaped Shinra this long to die as fiend food? No, never. She couldn't give up. Not yet.

But where? Which way? She noticed a staircase leading down to a basement. Basement? Just the pure thought of it scared her. But there wasn't time to worry about that. She ran down the stairs and flung open the door, which opened to another long corridor. She came to a creepy looking door which made her take a couple of steps away from it, but then she just shook her head and entered.

The room was circular and incredibly empty. The only thing occupying it was a coffin centred in the middle of the room. As she approached it she noted that it was made from a smooth wood and should have been quite beautiful, but was covered in dust and strange claw-like marks. Clanging and shouts coming from the upper floors broke her thoughts and reminded her of the current need to hide-and fast! But in a coffin? Gross! But she couldn't complain. There was no where else to go anyway. She shuddered, and then pulled open the coffin with difficulty. What she saw next made her heart skip a beat. A man, with hair as black as midnight lay still in the coffin. The first thought that popped into her head was 'zombie'! But wait... he wasn't...okay now she was just being silly. Still, just to make sure, she gently prodded him on the cheek and he didn't move, which made her relax. But, there was a dead guy in the coffin! How was she going to hide now? Get in a coffin with a dead guy? She shuddered. But the Shinra men were getting closer. She could hear by their angry shouts that they had nearly reached the corridor.

She turned back to the coffin and nearly screamed. His blood red eyes were open and were now piercing through her hazel ones. His cold glare made her feel worthless like she just wanted to back into the corner and cry.

Before she knew it, he had got up and was standing right in front of her. She heard the Shinra men scream again, realising just how close they were.

"Who...?" His voice was cold and sent shivers through her entire body.

* * *

The girl started shaking and was staring up at him as if he was the Grim Reaper and had come to drag her to hell. 

He could hear men coming down the stairs. They hardly bothered with stealth and this amused him. But the girl was staring wide-eyed at the door. Quickly she glanced at his coffin. Then, as fast as lightning, she jumped into his coffin and slammed the lid closed. This struck Vincent as weird, but he only raised one eyebrow-being the type who never reacted much.

Five men with guns burst through the door and stared awkwardly at him. He got that a lot to.

"W-who are you? Where'd the girl go?" one of the men stuttered.

Vincent really couldn't be bothered dealing with them and was going to walk out the room when he noticed their uniform.

SOLDIER.

That meant they were with Shinra.

Shinra.

The very name made his blood boil.

Shinra.

What were they doing here?

Four of the men started backing away from him after seeing the look of pure hatred that had appeared on his face. But the fifth, being an arrogant and cocky young man, walked right up to him and stuck his gun right in Vincent's face.

"We asked where the girl went dammit! Now answer!"

Vincent smirked. This was going to be fun.

* * *

All she heard was one of the men threatening that creepy man, then gunshots. Was he alright? She didn't exactly know why she cared, but she did. It was probably just because she hated Shinra. At least, that's what she told herself. 

She heard a single pair of footsteps approach the coffin.

"Are you going to come out of there?" His cold voice seemed to be everywhere, yet only in one spot at the same time, as if taunting her.

Slowly, she opened the coffin and peeked out. Her eyes went wide as she examined the five men lying in pools of their own blood on the floor. Each had only one bullet hole-it had been a quick death. She then turned her watery gaze back to him. He just stood there, expressionless, as if nothing had happened. Was he always like that? Surely, he would have to show at least a little emotion sometimes, right? But was he even human?

"Why was Shinra after you?" His words were like a bucket of ice cold water had been dropped all over her.

"Answer my question." There was a tone of annoyance in his voice.

"…uh…" she tried to respond, but it just came out as a strange gurgling noise.

He sighed, then walked up to her and pulled her out of the coffin. She struggled, but his grip was too strong.

"Now I will ask you one more time. If you don't answer, I will kill you. Why was Shinra after you?"

She tried to answer, but just one look into his crimson eyes and the words got stuck in her throat. After stuttering a bit, she managed one word.

"…V-vira…"

"Vira?" he mumbled thoughtfully. "Is that…your name?"

She nodded and stared at the floor.

"I see." He let go of her arm and she fell to the floor.

So her name was Vira. It seemed to…ring a bell, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. He looked at her again. She had long brown hair which fell down to her waist, but it looked almost black because it was so filthy. Her shirt was ragged and torn, covered in dirt, mud and blood. He could tell that once upon a time her pants were white, but now, they were a disgusting brown colour. But the thing about her that captivated him the most was her eyes. They were an ordinary hazel colour, but there was something different about them. Was it…no it couldn't be…but if she had just escaped from Shinra…then…he shook the thought from his mind. He could always ask her about it later.

"So…Vira, you were running from Shinra?"

She nodded.

"Why?"

For a second her terrified eyes met his, before she turned away and started staring at the floor again.

That look…now he understood.

"You…were an experiment?"


	2. Chapter 2

**I don't own Vincent Valentine or the Shinra Mansion.**

**Well, here is chapter two! I hope anyone reading this likes it. I will post chapter three if I get at least one review saying it was good.**

**Chapter 2**

"There. Is that better now?" He asked her as he finished bandaging the wound that one of the SOLDIERs had given her.

"Uh huh. Thanks." She murmured.

"It's not very deep so it should heal soon."

"Okay."

Vira watched him walk into the kitchen but decided not to follow him-after all, the sofa she was currently sitting on was extremely comfortable and she was sore all over. All she wanted was to curl up and fall asleep, but she knew her body wouldn't let her.

"Are you hungry?"

"Um…yeah…a little I guess…"

"Hmm…well I don't know if there is anything edible in this house…and I'd rather not cook anything." He muttered as he walked back into the lounge room.

"Oh…uh…its ok…don't bother yourself."

She watched as he walked over to the window and started staring at the beautiful landscape. There were so many questions she wanted to ask, but one look into his eyes and they all disappeared...he was just so scary...but she wanted to stay here, after all, he could protect her from Shinra, but for how long?

"What is it?" he asked and turned away from the window.

"Huh? Ah...what?" his voice broke her from her thoughts.

"You were staring at me." He replied in an unreadable tone.

"Oh...uh...I'm sorry!" she turned away quickly.

Great! How embarrassing! She sighed and hung her head. After awhile, she turned back to look at him and found that he was staring straight at her. Her eyes widened, but she didn't break the eye contact. His eyes were so...captivating...and beautiful...yet so dark and mysterious at the same time. They burned into the back of her skull and it felt as if he was reading her mind, like her eyes were spilling all her secrets. She broke the gaze after about a minute, but she could still feel his eyes on her.

"So Vira...how did you escape?"

She quickly glanced at him, but his expression hadn't changed. How could he ask that? Yeah, sure, he wanted to know, but couldn't he tell that she didn't want to talk about that? Let alone think about it! All she wanted was to find somewhere safe, warm and comfortable, go to sleep and when she woke up pretend it was all a bad dream. But that wasn't possible. She'd tried to do that her whole life-minus the safe part.

"I...don't want to talk about it..." she finally answered in almost a whisper.

"Very well then." He must have seen the pained look on her face because he didn't question it further.

"Will you stay here?"

"Huh? I...uh...don't know..." The question caught her off guard. "Don't you live here?" She asked curiously.

"I live here yes. But I do not own this mansion. It belongs to Shinra."

"Shinra?" Her eyes widened in shock.

"Yes. But no one from Shinra has been here in a very long time." He replied calmly.

"Oh..." A wave of relief surged over her.

"So...um...can I stay here?" she asked him with a look of pure innocence.

He stared at her for a couple of minutes before replying.

"That is entirely up to you. I just ask that you do not disturb me." He said then turned away and walked in the direction of the basement.

"Uh...wait! What if more SOLDIERs come?" she asked franticly.

He looked into he terrified eyes for a moment then replied calmly, "I suggest you hide and I will take care of them. It will be more interesting than killing lousy fiends anyway."

"...okay." she squeaked as he walked off.

Vira watched him walk off, her head buzzing with questions and thoughts. It was strange...all he had to do was look at her and he seemed to know what she was thinking. Maybe he could read minds. It wouldn't surprise her if that was true.

She was getting rather hungry so she decided to get up and look in the kitchen for some food, even though Vincent already said there probably wasn't any.

First she raided the fridge, then the kitchen cupboard. Hmm...no edible food right now, but there is plenty of ingredients here to make something. Oh well, who cares if they're a little old? She thought to herself, then realising she had no idea how to cook, she headed to the library to try and find a cook book. She found a couple and in an hour she had started cooking a simple soup.

"Mmmm...It smells so good." She exclaimed happily. "But it looks kinda gross. Oh well, it should taste okay."

She found that it actually tasted quite nice despite its looks. She'd also made quite a bit more than she originally thought. After eating her fill, she pondered over what to do with the extra. It wouldn't taste good tomorrow and it seemed like such a waste to just throw it out. She frowned at the soup. Maybe he would want it? She doubted that he would, but she could ask him and maybe... nah. Why would he want her stupid soup? She wondered if he even ate food. Well of course he would, but... he didn't seem like a human. Maybe he was a vampire... she giggled as she thought of a list of possible living organisms that he could be.

"What's so funny?"

His cold voice broke her thoughts and made her jump in fright and the soup she was holding flew out of her hands and landed on his face. She gaped as she stared at him and the soup that was now dripping down his face. But it was his expression that made her heart nearly stop.

"You..."

"I-I'm...uh...r-real-ly sor-ry...it just..." She bolted from the room with tears in her eyes.

"Hey...wait!" But he was talking to thin air.

* * *

Where the hell was she? Vincent had looked nearly everywhere and couldn't find her. Why did she have to run off like that anyway? It was an immature way of dealing with a problem and now Vincent had to be the one to look for her and make sure she was okay. Hopefully she hadn't been eaten by a fiend yet. He'd hate to have to clean up the mess. Although, the fiend probably wouldn't leave anything left after it was done with her. 

Man, this was a pain. He hadn't yet checked the garden or lower floors, but after a couple of hours searching, he really couldn't be bothered. If she had ventured into the garden, she would probably be smart enough to stay away from the man eating plants, but the lower floors... she'd have no hope. Although when she first came to the mansion she managed to make it to the basement in one piece, so maybe...no. He was going to have to find her. Just great. Sighing, he continued his search down to the lower floors.

* * *

It seemed as if she had been running for ever. She had no idea where she was and couldn't care less. All she wanted was to find a way out of this horrid mansion! I can't go back. Vincent must be really mad at me. Who wouldn't be? I mean, I just spilt hot soup all over his face! He's furious! I can't believe I did that! I'm such an idiot. 

Vira looked around and noticed that she had come to a dead end.

"Oh great!" she exclaimed sarcastically. "Now what?"

A low menacing growl answered her question.

"Eh...?"

She turned around slowly and came face to face with a huge fiend. It was disgusting. It stood there on six stick-like legs and clicked its pincers menacingly as if challenging her.

"Holy shit!"

* * *

Vincent moved quickly, knowing his time was limited. Although he had no idea where she was. The lower floors were much larger than the ground floors and the fiends were a lot tougher. Sure, he could just let Vira die, but he wasn't going to. He needed answers. Why was Shinra after her? Did they want her dead or alive? Their actions had been pretty hostile so far. No matter what, he wasn't going to let Shinra use her. He knew she was an experiment just like him and he could tell by some of the scars he had seen on her body when he was bandaging her wound that it was Hojo's work. But Hojo was dead. He had been pondering over this for awhile now. He could see the fear in her eyes whenever he tried to ask her about it. But there was something else...something he couldn't quite figure out. It was there, tugging at the back of his mind, but he couldn't get at it. He knew it was a memory, but of what? 

It didn't matter now anyway. He needed to concentrate on finding Vira. While wondering which way to go next, he heard a scream not to far off. Turning quickly, he ran towards the sound.

* * *

She lay on the ground, blood streaming from her head. Her vision was blurry but she couldn't feel any pain. Slowly, she struggled to her knees and turned to face her attacker. The fiend seemed to be leering down at her and she knew there was no escape. She was going to die here, as a fiend's dinner. There probably wouldn't be anything left when it had finished with her. She wondered if Vincent would find out she was gone. Would he even care? Probably not. Why would he? 

The fiend screeched and then charged towards her ready to tear her to shreds. Vira screamed again and ducked to the floor, waiting to feel its sharp pincers tear at her flesh. But it never happened.

The fiend stood there, reared up on its two legs, its eyes all glossy and there was two neat bullet holes through its upper abdomen. Then it fell forward, landing head first with a sickening crunch.

"What...?" Vira tried to figure out what had just happened, but the pain in her head became to strong and she couldn't see clearly. She slumped over, her head hitting the concrete. The last thing she remembered was strong arms wrap around her and his worried expression.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I don't own Vincent Valentine or anybody else from FFVII. Wouldn't it be nice to own Vincent though...sigh...**

**Anyway, here is chapter three! Yay! Thank you to anybody who is reading this. I appreciate it. Please review! Thank you.**

**Chapter 3**

She awoke in a warm bed with an incredibly sore head. The room was spinning and she struggled just to lift her head and see her surroundings. Giving up, she groaned and closed her eyes.

"Feeling better?"

She grumpily opened one eye to see a blurred figure walk into the room.

"...Vincent?"

"Who else?"

"Oh I dunno...the bogyman?" she replied sarcastically.

"The what?"

She started giggling, then stopped because it made her head hurt, so it sounded more like a groan.

Vincent raised an eyebrow.

"You shouldn't try to move. The wound isn't very deep, but it must hurt a lot."

"Yeah...kinda figured that out already."

"You shouldn't talk either."

Vira groaned in annoyance at his comment.

"Just get some rest. I'll make you something to eat when you're feeling better."

"Mmm...okay." she mumbled as he walked out of the room.

She curled up in the blankets and it didn't take long for sleep to overcome her.

* * *

When she awoke she was greeted by the smell of food. Curious, she struggled to her feet and slowly made her way to the kitchen. She peeked around the corner and saw Vincent cooking. Well attempting to cook anyway. He didn't seem to be doing to good. 

"That smells nice."

"Huh?" he turned around and looked at her. "Are you hungry?"

"Yeah..."

"This probably wont taste any good though." He mumbled and looked down towards the food.

"Don't say that. I bet it will taste great." She said gently and gave him a reassuring smile.

"...Hows your head?"

"Oh...it's a lot better now. Still hurts a little though."

"I see...what you did was irresponsible."

"Huh?"

He looked straight at her. "Running away like that. You could've been killed."

"Oh...well...you were mad at me and-"

"I wasn't mad."

"Huh?"

"What made me mad was searching the whole bloody mansion for you."

"You searched for me? But why?"

Vincent sighed and turned back to the food.

"Your really troublesome, y'know that?"

"...I...I'm sorry."

"Hmmm...?" Surprised, he turned around and met her troubled gaze.

"I said that I'm sorry...for bothering you and annoying you. Oh, and the whole soup thing...I didn't mean...if you want, I-I'll leave and..."

"That won't be necessary."

"Eh...?" She looked up at him in surprise.

"I'm guessing you do not want to go back to Shinra and without my protection you wouldn't stand a chance." He replied calmly.

"..." She looked up into his crimson eyes and without knowing why, felt tears well up in hers.

His look changed to surprise as she ran forward into his arms. He put his arms on her shoulders and noticed that she was shaking. Awkwardly, he put his arms around her.

"What...?"

"...t-thank you..." she whispered so quietly he barely heard her.

"For?" he whispered back more calmly than her.

"...everything."

"..." Vincent pulled away from the embrace and looked down into her slightly tear filled eyes.

"Don't worry, Shinra can't harm you here." He told her reassuringly and wiped the tears from her eyes.

"...I...know...but...why are you protecting me?"

He turned away slightly, his eyes holding a mysterious glow. "I...have my reasons."

"..." she looked at him curiously.

What was that look in his eyes? Sorrow? No...It didn't look like that...

Vincent looked back down at her, his expression changing to a look mixed between pity and reassurance.

She gave him a weak smile before hugging him again.

"...Why do you do that?" he asked, taken slightly by surprise.

"Isn't that what people do when they thank each other?" She asked with a confused look on her face.

"...I wouldn't know..." he replied with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh...uh sorry." She quickly let go of him and turned away in embarrassment.

He looked at her thoughtfully. "How long were you with Shinra?"

"I'm not really sure...as long as I can remember..." She said quietly.

"You've never been outside of that building or talked to anyone right?"

His question caught her off guard. "Huh...um...yeah...the only person I've ever talked to is..._him_..." She said the last word so quietly he only just heard it.

"Him?"

"Mmm..." she turned away, trying her hardest to avoid answering.

"Who is he?" Vincent asked again, his tone more demanding.

"..." Suddenly, the floor seemed to be incredibly interesting.

"Tell me." He grabbed her arm and pulled her towards him, but after seeing her terrified expression, he loosened his grip and his expression softened.

"Tell me." He repeated in a soft voice.

"Please...don't...make me..." She whispered painfully.

"Its okay...he's not here." He reassured her.

"I...know...it's just...Hojo..." she whimpered.

"What? Hojo?" The name struck him like a hammer.

She nodded and stared at the floor.

"But...how?"

She looked up at him and was shocked at the expression that had currently resided on his face.

"...You know him?" She barely choked out the words.

"I..." he walked over to the table and sat down, putting his head in his hands.

Vira looked at him, worry all over her face. He knew Hojo? Then...he knew her...what she'd done...

"...Vincent?" she called his name softly.

"Hmm?" he looked up at her, but surprisingly, his expression showed no emotion.

"...Do you...know?"

"Know what?"

"...uh...never mind..."she looked away at nothing in particular. "So...um...you know him...?"

"Yeah...I just...thought he was dead..."

"Dead?"

"I thought so. But obviously not."

"..." He didn't know...was that good, or bad? He wouldn't let her stay here if he knew, but...it wasn't right lying to him either. Wait! I'm not lying, I just haven't told him...and I don't think I will. I want to stay here. Start over. Begin a new life.

Her thoughts were interrupted by her stomach reminding them how hungry it was.

She went red and turned away.

"Come on, the food I made must be cold by now." Vincent said with a slight smile.

"O-okay..." she watched him get the food and put it down on the table in front of her.

"Do you want any?" she asked him.

"Only if there is any left over. Have as much as you want." Then he walked to the window and started staring out it again

"It smells good."

"Probably tastes terrible."

"Mmmm...nope! It's good." She replied happily after sampling some of it.

"Right..."

"I meant that! Honestly!"

He gave her an I-don't-believe-you look before turning back to the window.

She sighed, then continues eating, knowing arguing would be pointless.

"Do you really live here all by yourself?"

"Yes. Does it matter?" he answered without turning away from the window.

"Don't you have any friends?"  
"...I do."

"Then why aren't you with them?"

"Is there any point to these questions?" he sounded irritated. "You're being quite rude."

"Oh! Uh...I didn't mean it like that...sorry..."

"..."

"I just...I mean...why wouldn't you be spending time with your friends?" she looked up at him confused.

"...Sometimes life takes different turns for different peoples lives. It's not just as simple as being with friends all the time."

"Oh...is that right? I see...I guess things are different to what I imagined..."

"Hmm? What do you mean?"

"Oh...uh...nothing! Forget it."

He stared at her and it made her fidget.

"Um...I'm thirsty. Is there anything I can drink in this place?" She asked, trying to change the subject.

"There is water in the cupboard above the stove."

"Ok. Thanks."

As she went and got it (tried to anyway, she was just tall enough to reach it if she stood on her tippy toes), she still felt his eyes on her. Again, shivers travelled through her body.

"It's getting late. You should get some more rest." He got up and turned to walk away.

"Oh okay...goodnight Vincent."

He nodded at her before walking off.

Vira watched him leave, then stared at nothing in particular before realising she wasn't the least bit tired and was incredibly bored. She let out a long sigh, then got up and walked out of the room. If she was going to stay here, even if only for a little while, she should explore the mansion a bit. She wanted to explore the main part of the ground floor because she really didn't want to get lost again.

Coming down the main flight of stairs, she walked into the main entrance area. It brought back memories of when she first arrived here and was running from the SOLDIERs. She could have fought them, but...she wasn't...why was this happening? It didn't make any sense! And why...why was he protecting her? If he knew what she really was, what she had done, then he wouldn't..._ 'without my protection you wouldn't stand a chance'_...oh how wrong he was...I can't stay here...I wont...use his kindness...It wasn't right...he could protect her from Hojo until she regained her abilities, if she ever did, but, what would it matter? She was going to die no matter what and she had accepted that fact...but...whenever she was around Vincent she...felt as if everything was going to be okay. Like he would protect her. No...I deserve this...this pain...I won't run anymore...

Shaking her head she ran to the door. Before she opened it, her tear-filled eyes examined the mansion one more time.

"...Goodbye Vincent..."

She swung open the door and came face to face with a man.

* * *

**I will** **post chapter 4 soon.**

**I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter. Pleeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaasssssssssseeeeeeee review! Please! I really want tips on how to improve my grammar. So then my stories wont suck as much. Thank you.**


	4. Chapter 4

**And here is chapter 4! Whooo! Thanks to anyone who is actually reading this fanfic and please review! Thank you.**

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN CLOUD, VINCENT OR THE SHINRA MANSION.**

**Chapter 4**

She stood there, her mouth wide open, gaping at the man. He was tall, blonde, had glowing blue-green eyes and a huge buster sword.

She squeaked and fell over backwards.

The blonde looked down at her in surprise then asked, "Um...uh...hi...is Vincent here?"

"Vincent?" A wave of relief surged over her.

"Yeah..."

So he wasn't after her. She got up and looked up at him, but before she could say anything, Vincent's cold voice made her jump.

"...Hello Cloud."

God, he sounded so creepy...

Cloud looked over in his direction. "Vincent...it's been awhile."

"Yes, did you want something?"

He gets to the point quickly too.

"Maybe...could we talk in private?" He asked glancing over in Vira's direction.

"Alright."

Knowing this was her cue to leave, she walked out the door into the garden.

"Don't run off." Vincent gave her a do-what-I-say kind of look before walking off, being followed by Cloud.

Great! Don't run off! God! Stupid Cloud just had to come and ruin my plan didn't he? I have to get out of here! The longer I wait, the harder it gets and it's hard to find a time when Vincent isn't breathing down my neck...Would he try and stop me? I'm going to leave...sooner or later. He can't stop me. I was stupid even to hope that I could stay here, to let him protect me...forget about Hojo...maybe even start my life over again...no. I will never be forgiven. Never.

* * *

"Please Vincent...we need your help." Cloud pleaded with him, trying to make him change his mind. 

Vincent sighed and walked over to the window. "I can't. Simple as that."

Now it was Clouds turn to let out a sigh. "You helped us before. Why won't you do it again?"

"...Even if I do come, what do you suggest I do about Vira?"

"Vira?"

"Yes. The girl you met earlier. I said she could stay here and I am protecting her from Shinra."

"Shinra?" His expression changed to shock.

"Yes." Vincent replied calmly.

"Well...she could come...I guess."

"..."

"Vincent...please."

"I'll think about it." He replied as he walked out into the garden. "Vira?"

* * *

She heard his voice calling her, but she didn't want to respond. Maybe if he thought she was gone, he would forget about her... 

"Why are you hiding in a bush?'

His voice made her jump. She had been so busy thinking, she hadn't heard him approach her.

"I...uh..."

"Come on." He grabbed her by the arm and pulled her out of the bush. "We're leaving."

"Huh? Leaving?"

"Yes. Some things have come up and Cloud and the others need me to help them sort out a few problems."

"Others? Oh...your friends right? Well go help them. I'm...uh...gonna go...find my own way and..."

"What? I thought you wanted my protection."

"I'll...be fine..." She looked away, wishing that it wasn't as awkward. Things definitely weren't going the way she planned.

"Where will you go?"

"Somewhere...I..." Vira was completely lost for words and she knew she must have looked like a complete idiot.

"Why? I know you don't want to leave here and stay with them for awhile but it won't be long."

"No...it's not that...I have to leave. I can't...stay with you anymore. I'm sorry for causing you trouble." She looked away and felt tears well up in her eyes.

"...Vira..." He looked down into her sorrow filled eyes. She tried to turn away, but he grabbed her chin and made her keep the eye contact. "I can tell you're lying. Tell me the true reason."

She whimpered at the feel of his cold hand.

"Tell me." He demanded.

"I...am...going to...I can't...don't waste your breath on me Vincent...I wont...use you..."

"Use me?" His voice was gentle as he ran his hand through her hair. I don't understand."

"...If only you knew...you would have killed me already..."

Vincent looked into her eyes. It was like she was breaking, falling into pieces. Someone so young shouldn't have to endure such pain.

"I was stupid...I thought that I could start over...a new life...but I...will never be forgiven...I...deserve to die..." The last three words were so quiet he just heard them.

"What...what did you do?"

"I..." She broke into tears and fell into his arms. "Please...I'm so sorry...it wasn't my fault...I just..."

"It's okay." He pulled her closer in an effort to comfort her. "It'll be okay."

"No...it won't be..."

"..." Vincent pulled her away and looked down into her eyes. "How about this. You said you wanted to start over right? To be forgiven?"

"...yeah...but-"

"You can stay with me. I won't ask where you've been or what you've done. And you should try to forget. I know it's impossible, but...I'll be here."

She looked up at him with wide eyes. This was impossible...what he was saying. No one had ever even wanted her to be happy, let alone tell her it was okay...

"I know it's not much, but I will protect you."

He had to be lying...but when she looked into his crimson eyes she knew he was being sincere...he meant this. She looked down and said nothing, deep in thought. After a couple of minutes, she replied weakly, "...That...sounds like a plan." A smile crossed her lips.

He returned the smile. "Shall we go?"

She nodded and he helped her to her feet.

"Where's your friend?"

"I believe he's inside."

"Um...Vincent..."

"Yes?"  
"Are we...uh never mind."

"No. Finish."

"Are we...um...friends?" Her innocent eyes met his.

"I'm...not sure. If you want."

She looked away, slightly red. "I-I've never had a friend before...what's it like?"

"I...don't know. I don't spend that much time around them. I prefer to be alone."

"I see...but isn't it nice? Knowing someone cares about you?"

"It..." he stopped when he saw the hurt in her eyes. "Yes. It is." He walked up to her and put a hand on her shoulder. "I'm sure they will like you."

"Mmmm...I don't think so..."

"Vira-" he was cut off by Cloud.

"Vincent! We need to leave."

"Alright. Come on Vira."

She nodded and followed him, careful not to make eye contact with Cloud-he was giving her a strange look.

Maybe...things won't be so bad after all. She thought to herself and slightly smiled.

* * *

**Whew! That was a short chapter. Shouldn't take long for chapter 5 to be up.**

**They got a bit close didn't they? But noooooo, its not like that. Vira just has a few issues, thats all. But you'll find out all about that later. :)**

**Anyway, I'd love some construtive critism. Thanks for reading!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Sorry chapter five took so long! I've been busy with school. But, yeah, here it is! Enjoy! (Just kidding)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own anyone from Final Fantasy VII or Cid's ship.**

**Chapter 5**

"Eeeeeeeee! Vinnie's got a girlfriend! Girlfriend!"

"Yuffie, shut up." He stood there, emotionless as always. However, Vira was completely red and was staring intensely at the floor.

"G-i-r-l-f-r-i-e-n-d!!!!" She started dancing around in circles singing her little song.

Vira went even redder.

"Now, now Yuffie, don't be silly. Vincent! It's so nice to see you again." A woman with long brown hair and smiling eyes walked into the room.

"Tifa." He nodded in greeting.

"Teeeeeeef! Don't change the subject!" The young ninja whined.

"Yuffie...I really don't think-"

"But they live together! That's proof enough!"

"You lived with your father and you are not his girlfriend. So that doesn't mean anything." Vincent replied calmly.

"Eeeeeewwww gross! He's my dad! We can live together because were family!"

"Exactly. Now leave us alone."

"Eh...? You're related?"

"Come Vira. Tifa will you show her to her room?"

"Ok. This way."

"Hey! I'm talking here!"

"Um...so...Tifa..."

"Yes?"

"HEY!"

"Shut up Yuffie. No one listens to you anyway." A gruff voice said grumpily and a man in his late 30s walked into the room.

"Shut up old man!"

"Watch who you're calling old, stupid child! You...huh? Who's this?"

"This is Vira."

"Vincent! Good to see you! Where you've been hiding these last two years?"

"I wasn't hiding."

"Yeah sure... So Vira, is it? Nice ta meet ya! I'm Cid...Yuffie! Stop your damn whining!"

"Um...uh...where's my room?" Vira just wanted to get away from these crazy people.

"It's this way. Follow me." Tifa led her out of the main cabin and down a couple of hallways.

"So, how do you like it so far?"

"The ship? It's...uh...big...Cid is the pilot right?"

"Yes. He likes this sort of thing. Making ships and such."

"...I see."

"It's been so long since all of us have been together like this. It's so nice." She said happily.

"So...um...who is everyone? I've never met this many people before..."

"Really?" She looked at Vira for a moment before adding, "Well everyone is, Cloud, Cid, Yuffie, you already know Vincent, and you haven't met Barret, Cat Sith, Red XIII, Denzel and Marlene yet."

"Oh...ok."

"Do you mind me asking how you met Vincent?"

"Oh...um! I just kinda...woke him up by accident and...yeah..." She thought it would be best to leave out the whole Shinra part.

"I see...so you two are friends right?"

"I...don't know. I don't think so...that's up to him..."

"...Well, I'm sure you two will be friends. You seem to be a very nice girl."

"Huh? Uh...not really..." How did she always manage a smile? It was so heart warming and friendly.

"Hmmm? You don't think you're nice?" She was giving Vira a puzzled look.

"Oh...I uh...don't really know..." she didn't know why, but she felt her face starting to turn red.

"...You're a strange one alright."

"Huh?" She looked up at Tifa, but realised it wasn't meant as an insult. "..."

"We're here! This is your room. Once you settle in I'm sure the rest will want to talk to you. We usually meet in the bridge. And I've given you some of Yuffie's old clothes, since yours look a little...dirty. And there is a shower in your cabin too."

"Um...ok."

"If you need anything, just find me, ok?"

"Alright."

"Well I'll be seeing you." She walked cheerfully out the room.

Vira let out a sigh, then flopped backwards onto the bed. It felt so nice...actually lying in a bed. To most people it was a simple object in their lives, but to Vira it was like heaven. So was the food she had eaten at the Shinra mansion-even though it was old.

She closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.

* * *

"Mmm..." 

"Awake?"

"Huh?" She lazily opened her eyes and saw a dark haired man sitting on the end of her bed. "Vincent? What are you doing here?"

"Tifa asked me to check on you."

"Why?"

"You've been asleep for nearly five hours."

"...Really?"

"Yes. Dinner is in an hour if you're hungry."

"Um...ok. I'm gonna go take a shower..."

"Very well then. I will see you later." With that, he got up and walked out the room.

She got up and went over to the shower. She just stood there, for a couple of minutes, staring at it as if it was some alien from outer space. Vira had never been lucky enough to have a real shower, mostly just standing under freezing cold water for a minute or two.

"Can't be that hard. Just turn a handle, that's all." She thought aloud. "What's this?" She picked up a couple of bottles.

"Shampoo...? Great..."

This was going to take awhile.

* * *

"Where's Vira?" 

"She'll be here in a minute, Tifa."

"Oh okay...Vincent, have you seen Yuffie around lately?"

"No...why?"

"I'm...I just hope she's not doing anything silly...she was really angry with Cid..."

"I wouldn't worry. She's probably in the bathroom."

"I hope she's not too sick to miss dinner."

"Vincent...?" Vira quietly walked into the room.

"Yes?" He noted that she was wearing Yuffie's old clothes, but had chosen the long garments that covered her legs and arms-not leaving any skin showing. Her hair also looked nice, once she had washed it. Not like he could talk. He hadn't washed or combed his hair for a long time and had no intention of even trying to tame it.

"Is dinner ready yet?"

"It will be ready soon, okay Vira? If it's not too much trouble, could you go tell Yuffie for me Vincent?" Tifa asked him.

"Alright."

"...can I come?" Vira asked quickly before he walked off.

'That's a good idea. Vira still doesn't know her way around the ship yet. Well have fun you two!" Tifa walked off cheerfully.

"...Come on. This way."

"Okay." She followed him out the room.

* * *

"Do you know where she is?" 

No...but I have a pretty good idea where she might be."

"Oh...where?"

"...Would you stop that?"

"Huh?"

He stopped walking. "Clinging to my arm like that. It's annoying."

"Oh...but..."she let go and a look of sadness crossed her face.

Why was it that that look she gave him always made him feel so guilty? "..." he let out a sigh.

This made her look up at him puzzled. But her look changed to surprise as she felt his hand in hers.

"...Come on."

A smile crossed her face.

"Okay..."

* * *

They found Yuffie vomiting in the toilet. She had grumpily agreed to come with them to dinner, although Vincent doubted she would be able to eat anything. 

"Urgh..."

"...It can't be that bad, Yuffie."

"Shut up you! It's terrible!" She doubled over, clutching her stomach and mouth in an attempt not to vomit.

"..." Vira felt sorry for the girl. It must have been horrible. Vincent however, didn't seem to care.

"If you're not feeling well enough to eat, then go back to the bathroom. I won't have you putting everyone else out of eating."

Yuffie opened her mouth to argue, but then quickly snapped it shut and ran off towards the toilet.

"...poor girl."

Vincent looked down at her. "I wouldn't worry. She'll be fine once we land. Now come, or our dinner will get cold."

"Okay..."

* * *

Vira found the meal to be extremely uncomfortable. The food was delicious; a huge roast had been made to feed them all. She wasn't sure who had cooked it though. Tifa said that the roast was to celebrate old and new friends meeting together. Vira wasn't exactly sure what all the fuss was about, but she appreciated the food. It beat stale bread. 

But it was really awkward.

Everyone was talking about past events, family and how much they had missed each other. Except, Vincent, Cid and Cloud were talking about plans to deal with this new 'problem' that had occurred. She guessed it was the reason why Vincent had left the mansion. She couldn't hear much, because they were sitting at the other end of the table. But they didn't look to happy. She also noticed Vincent glancing at her occasionally.

Yuffie had eventually joined them and her and Tifa were deep in conversation, gossiping about random things. Boring. Tifa had tried to include Vira in their conversations as much as possible, but Vira wasn't exactly the talkative type.

"So what do you think about that Vira?"

"Huh? Ah...what?" She hadn't been paying attention to them; her eyes were on Vincent, trying to figure out what they were planning.

"Teef was asking you if you wanna come shopping with us when we land in the next town."

"Oh...uh...alright..."

"I think it would be a good idea. We should really get you some nice clothes; Yuffie's look a little big." Tifa added.

"Yeah! Wouldn't she look cute in a little pink dress?" Yuffie exclaimed.

"Yes, that would look quite nice." Tifa smiled at her.

Vira felt her face going red and she looked down at the table in embarrassment.

A dress? How embarrassing. Especially if Vincent saw her wearing it. What would he think?

She looked at him. He must have noticed her staring at him, because he stared right back at her. Her face went even redder.

"Um...Tifa? I'm going to go to the bathroom."

"Oh ok."

With that she quickly ran out the room, getting a strange look form Vincent.

* * *

"How embarrassing..." Vira was standing in one of the corridors outside the main eating area. It still amazed her how big Cid's ship was. 

She had eaten her fill and had no desire to go back and listen to the others gossiping and talking about things she had never heard of before. Vira decided it might be a good idea to 'get to know' Cid's ship. She was bored and a good walk would be nice. I just hope I don't get lost...

* * *

Nice. Perfect. Absolutely fantastic. I'm lost. How come I knew this would happen? Why the hell does he need such a big ship anyway? 

"...urgh..." She sighed.

There's no point in panicking. It won't get me anywhere...why do all the corridors look the same?

While she was wondering which way to go, the ship suddenly lurched and she fell forward.

"What the?!"

The ship violently thrashed about, throwing her back and forth.

"Eeeeeeeeek!" What the hell was that maniac doing? Did he even know how to fly this thing? Maybe they were caught in a storm. A really bad storm.

"Ouch!" She rubbed the back of her head, after she had been thrown back against the wall. She tried to get up, but the ship was still thrashing around and she fell sidewards, landing on her ankle in a funny position and to her disgust, she heard a snap.

"Ohhhh...great..." She grimaced in pain as she tried to move into a sitting position.

What was going on? She could hear explosions and a siren had gone off somewhere. She remembered Tifa telling her that if she heard a siren to meet in the bridge, but she couldn't exactly get there with a broken ankle. Not to mention she was lost and had no idea where the bridge was.

Voices broke her thoughts. It sounded like men, but not anyone she had met before. Not wanting to be seen by them, she crawled into the corner and hid behind a couple of crates that were tied down there. She heard the footsteps coming closer. She peeked from behind the crates and saw five men in funny looking amour-suit things march down the corridor. And they had guns. What were they doing here? How did they get on board? It was then she realised that the ship wasn't moving anymore.

"This way!" The man at the front barked the order to the other four.

He seemed to be the leader, maybe a Sergent of some sort? She could tell this by the way he ordered the others around and his outfit was different. It seemed more...sophisticated.

She didn't like them. They gave her a creepy feeling and sent shivers down her spine. This was just too weird. Where was Vincent? Was he okay? They'd probably all forgot about her. So much for Vincent promising to protect her. It had all been a lie...I can't believe I fell for it! If only...I had my abilities...I wouldn't have to follow him around. I wouldn't be stuck in this mess. I knew that something bad would happen if I left and I didn't care, I just...didn't know that I would become this useless. But I won't go back. I just hate relying on people to protect me.

I thought that maybe Vincent actually liked me...we could be friends...I believed his words. It's a lie. All of it.

"Hurry up! We don't have long!" the Sergent barked out more orders.

She glared at them. They were starting to get really annoying. "What do you think you're doing?" Her voice was cold.

"W-who said that?" One of the men stuttered.

The others all looked around like lost chickens, but the Sergent stood emotionless as always.

"Show yourself."

"Alright." She stood up, revealing her hiding spot.

"It's just a girl."

"Should we kill her?"

"No...Girl. You are on this airship, so I am assuming you know the captain of this vessel."

"Who Cid? Yeah, I know him."

"...I don't like your attitude. Men, take her hostage. She will be useful."

"Yes sir!" They all chanted together.

One of them roughly grabbed her by the arm and pointed his gun at the back of her head.

She grinned. "Guess what?"

"Huh?" he replied stupidly.

"My ankles broken."

He looked down at her foot. "No it's not."

"It was." Her grin became wider.

"...stop stalling. You're coming with us." The man tried sounding calm, but Vira still caught the nervousness in his voice.

"Nah...I don't feel like it."

"What?!"

"I said I don't feel like being your hostage. Got a problem with that?"

"...uh...Sergent?"

"What?" he snapped angrily.

"Uh...she's not...um...not agreeing with our plans..."

"Well then shoot her in the leg. Let's see her protest then.

"...ok." He turned back to her grinning face.

"Go ahead. I dare you."

"What?!" He took a step back in shock.

This was what she had been waiting for. His gun was no longer pointing at her and he had let his guard down. She delivered a quick blow to his stomach and he doubled over in pain. Quickly, she grabbed his gun and hit him over the head with it. He fell unconscious to the floor. The other four men turned around when they heard him fall.

"What? Get her!" the Sergent yelled.

She quickly avoided the first man, tripping him in the process. The second man charged at her, aiming a punch at her face. She ducked, then grabbed his arm and twisted it around till she heard a snap. He bought his second arm around and punched her in the gut. She staggered backwards a couple of steps, then balanced herself as two men ran towards her; one of them only using one arm to attack her. She moved in a funny twirling motion, avoiding their attacks. She grabbed the first one by the arm and threw him at the second. They both went crashing into the wall.

The man she had tripped earlier had gotten up again and was now walking towards her. This one seemed cocky. Well he had a right to be. He was much larger than her. Time to change tactics. He walked right up to her, leering down at her. She gave him a frightened look.

"You are troublesome." His voice was menacing.

"...I'Im...so sorry..." Her eyes started to well up with tears. "I didn't mean...to...it just these...these people are scaring me...and I was hiding...and now...and now...now...why is everyone attacking me? What did I do?" She started bawling.

"W-what? Hey, stop that...I can't understand you..." Taken by surprise, he tried comforting her, forgetting all about how she had just taken out three of his comrades.

Things were going perfect. No matter how strong a man was, he always had a weak spot.

"...I...please...you're an idiot." A mischievous look appeared on her face.

"Huh?" Realising it was a trick a second to late, he tried to grab her, but she was already behind him.

"Too slow." She kicked him just as he turned around; hitting him in the one spot a man never wants to be kicked. He fell to the ground in pain and she brought her foot down on his head, making it smash into the floor. He would have a bad headache when he woke up. If he did.

She changed her attention to the Sergent, who was currently pointed a gun at her.

"Change of plans. You're going to die now." He sneered at her.

"Really? Let's see you try to kill me."

His look changed to anger and he started shooting at her.

She quickly did a couple of cartwheels to the left, the bullets missing her by inches. When she reached the wall, her tactics changed to a couple of forward rolls and manoeuvres. She managed to get close enough to him and she kicked the gun out of his hands. They quickly entered hand-to-hand combat. He was strong and smart, unlike the other four, so she had to think quickly. He was bigger and stronger than her, so she knew she wouldn't last ten seconds if she took him head on.

Moving to his side, she delivered a quick series of blows to his legs. He tried to fend her off, but she was like a mosquito, moving around him, hitting him with weak attacks, never letting him rest. Her attacks were weak, but eventually his legs would give in. Until then, she just needed to focus on keeping her stamina up and not getting hit by him.

"Stop playing around!" He roared.

"Oh, I'm not playing."

With that, she kicked him really hard in the back of the shins.

He cried out in pain and fell forward. She brought her hand down into the back of his neck, knocking him unconscious.

These men were all muscle, but hadn't had much training, unlike her. She had been trained for battle her entire life.

"Vira...?"

She turned around quickly in surprise and saw Vincent staring at her in disbelief.

"What...?"

"Um...uh...hi?" She smiled sheepishly.

"You..."

* * *

**That was a long chapter. 3000 and something words. Okaayyyy, it's not THAT long, but it's long to me. Because I suck. **

**Yeah...Chapter 6 will be up soon. Hopefully. I need to sleep. And study. ...goodnight peoples :D**


	6. Chapter 6

**Here's chapter 6! I'm sorry it took so long, but it's holidays now, so I will post chapter 7 a lot quicker than this one. Thanks to anyone who is actually reading this, not many people are. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own anyone from Final Fantasy VII.**

**Chapter 6**

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah."

"I didn't know you could fight."

"Uh...yeah...what happened? Who were those men?"

"Enemies. We let our guard down during dinner and they attacked us."

"Is everyone alright?"

"Yes. But the ship suffered major damage. We are currently in Rocket Town and Cid is trying his hardest to repair the ship."

"Will it fly again?"

"I'm not sure, but knowing Cid, he'll fix it."

"I see….what about them?" She pointed towards the five unconscious men.

"We'll question them. Although, I doubt I'll get any information from them."

"This one will spill the beans." She kicked the man that she had first injured. "He's a wuss."

"I see. Alright then. I guess we should tie them up before they come to."

"That……would be wise."

* * *

She had found the trigger. It was hate. That was all she needed. 

She remembered the hate she had felt towards Vincent, and then, well her ankle healed. One of the abilities she had lost.

Regeneration.

But that didn't mean she was better. She as still weak. And useless. But maybe….would it work? She'd have to test this new theory in battle. Right now she had more important problems to deal with. Like helping those pathetic humans. She wasn't exactly sure why she was helping them. It was probably because they were protecting her. For the mean time anyway.

She was currently at a hotel, sharing a small room with Tifa and Yuffie. A really small room. Really small.

She wanted to help Vincent, Cloud and Cid with fixing the ship, but Vincent had insisted on her resting. Like she was even tired. But he had locked her up in this room. Locked. Like she was going to run away. Oh, and listening to Yuffie snoring? That was fabulous. Like an orchestra. How did Tifa mange to sleep through that?

Sighing, she got up off her bed and walked to the window.

Hopefully it wasn't locked. She had to get out of here.

Luck was on her side. I slid open easily and she climbed out, closing it quietly behind her. Looking around the street, she pondered over which way to go.

* * *

"Yuffie? Tifa?" Vincent knocked softly on the door before unlocking it and he walked into the room. 

"Vincent?" A sleepy Tifa answered him. "Yuffie's sleeping."

"Uh...sorry. Didn't mean to wake you."

"It's okay." She smiled at him, more awake now.

"How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine. But why did you lock the door?" She put her hands on her hips. "Yuffie and Vira were complaining."

"...To keep the fiends out."

"We can take care of ourselves. You know I'm responsible."

"I didn't say that you weren't. You can't protect yourselves when you're sleeping and I don't trust this hotel's security systems. This place could be attacked anytime and I'm not taking any chances. Especially after our friendly visit from them."

Tifa sighed. "I guess..."

He looked around, scanning the room. "Where's Vira?"

"Eh? She was right here..."

"Vincent walked over to the window. "She got out this way. It's still slightly ajar."

"But...why would she?"

"...Maybe she got bored. I'll find her. Don't worry."

"Alright...be careful..." She said with worry all over her face.

He nodded and walked out the room.

* * *

"Hey there girlie." 

"Huh?" She turned around and saw that three men had partly surrounded her.

Just great. Thugs. Exactly what she needed right now.

"What do you want?" She growled.

"Awwww. Don't be like that."

"Yeah. What's a girl like you doing in a place like this at this time of night?"

She shrugged. "I wanted to get some fresh air. Anything wrong with that?"

"No...Do you wanna have some fun?"

"Pardon me?"

He grabbed her arm. "I asked if you wanna have some fun with us."

Vira looked up into his grinning face. "No thanks." She said coldly and pulled her arm out of his grip. She went to walk off, but they blocked her path.

"Sorry, no leaving. The party's just starting."

"Yeah!" They all started cackling.

"Uh...sounds really fun...but...uh...I got stuff to do so I'll be seeing you..."

"What could be more important than hanging out with three hunks like us?" He grabbed her and pulled her towards him. "You're not going anywhere."

"Don't touch me." Her eyes narrowed.

"Sorry girlie, we give out the orders." He leered down at her.

She sighed. How bothersome. She didn't really want to kill anyone tonight, but looks like that changed...

The man holding her suddenly let out a cry of pain and looked down at his chest in shock, which had blood pouring out of it. He fell forward, dead.

Vira spun around, looking for the owner of the gun that had killed him.

"Leave her alone."

Hmph. Vincent. She should've known. What a show off.

The other two men stood there, dumbfounded, not knowing whether to run or fight. Eventually, they decided it would be in their best interests to get the hell outta there.

"You'll pay for this!" One of them yelled as they ran away from her.

"Are you okay?" Vincent walked over to her.

"I could have handled that."

"Your welcome."

"..." She gave him an annoyed look.

"Why did you run away?"

"First of all, I didn't run away. I was bored and wanted some fresh air. You can keep me locked up in that tiny room like some kind of animal!"

"...It wasn't meant like that."

"Yeah...whatever!" She turned away angrily.

That look...it was... "Are you...claustrophobic?"

She looked at him in surprise, then turned away in embarrassment. "T-that's...none of your business!"

"I'm sorry...you could have said something. We could have gotten a bigger room..."

"...Go away!" She started walking off, but Vincent stopped her.

"Don't walk off. You're coming back with me."

"...Why do you care if I leave?!" She snapped.

"Vira..." What was with this anger? Not long ago, she had been broken, in his arms, crying. But now... "Don't say that..."

"Look...just go away! You don't care about me!" She ran off and this time Vincent didn't try to stop her. Confused, he made his way back to the hotel.

* * *

"Argh!" She punched the wall as hard as she could and the whole thing crumbled into pieces of rubble. "I hate you!" Panting, she looked down at her fist, which was covered in blood. Then she fell to her knees. 

Vincent Valentine.

She had read about him, she knew his past. What he had been through. His love. His life. The experiments. Everything. His files were on Hojo's computer. Although she had never seen his picture. That was why she didn't recognise him when they first met.

This was all his fault. What had happened to her. If he didn't exist, then...she wouldn't be an experiment...she would be dead. And she would rather be dead than...this...this thing...this weapon...because of him, Hojo had...no. It wasn't entirely his fault. She couldn't blame it on him. Even if he wasn't alive, Hojo would have found something else. But...would she still be this...what would she be? The only reason Hojo had bothered saving her was because she was so like Vincent...they both had similar DNA...so she was a perfect match for Chaos...just like him. Although, Hojo had to experiment on him to make his body suitable for Chaos. It was easier with her. But she wasn't Chaos...no...she was worse. Far worse. She could defeat Chaos if she wanted to. But it wouldn't be easy. Not that she needed to worry about that. Vincent didn't have Chaos anymore. He stood no chance against her. And that made Hojo happy. No one could defeat her. But that was why she left. To die. Before she killed anymore people. She had thought that Vincent could help her. That he would understand. She had shown her weaker side in front of him too. It made her sick, even believing in him. She'd acted like a child. Why did she always make so many mistakes? It didn't matter now though. She had to put the past behind her. Not like she could. No, she wasn't going to do anything. She was going to find a spot where she could die, somewhere with no people. And she had the perfect place in mind.

* * *

"Vincent! You're back!" Tifa ran up to him, but stopped when she saw the look on his face. "What's wrong?" 

"..."

"Where's Vira? Did you find her?"

"...I...don't think she's coming back..."

"What? Did...something happen?"

"She doesn't want to come back..."

"Why not?"

"I...think she hates me." He turned away.

"Vincent...don't say that...she really likes you. I can tell."

"But that look..." he mumbled to himself.

"Huh?"

"...I'm going for a walk..."

"Uh...ok..." Tifa watched him leave, worry showing on her face.

* * *

How much further was it? She felt like she had been walking for days, when it had probably only been a couple of hours. She was so exhausted. It couldn't hurt to take a little rest. She sat down, leaning against one of the walls in a nearby alley. 

"Well, well. Look who it is."

"...?" she opened her eyes and saw the two thugs which had annoyed her before. Unfortunately, there was ten others with them. Must be the whole gang. "Urgh...go away..." She was too tired to deal with them right now.

They smirked down at her. "I don't think we will." One of them replied.

"Hey Johnny, is this that girl you talked about? The one that got Bob killed?" one of the other bikers asked the one bothering her.

"Yeah. That's her."

"I think she should pay for that."

"Yeah, she should."

She tried to stand up, but her legs gave in and she fell to the ground. No...not now...why did her body have to fail her now, of all times? She didn't want to die here...not here...her world went black.

* * *

_Dim lights...an operating table...test tubes...where was she?__ She tried to move, but her body wouldn't respond, she felt numb and cold. Her vision was blurry. She'd never been this scared in her whole life._

_She heard footsteps and a door opened. She wondered who it was, but she couldn't move her head._

"_Ah...she's awake."_

_That voice...no...not again. She wanted to scream, but she had no voice._

"_It's nice to meet you, Vira."_

_No...no...no! Don't come near me...don't..._

"_Unfortunately you can't talk, but that's just a side effect...it'll go away. Now I'm not sure if you know why you're here..."_

_Mother...father...sister..._

"_You're lucky to be alive. No one knows that you survived though. They all think you died, just like your family."_

_The explosion...screaming..._

"_It probably would have been better if you had died...you're going to be in a lot of pain...but don't worry. I'll fix you."_

_No...I don't want to be an experiment._

_His face leered above hers, his expression twisted and mad. "I love making new friends." He cackled evilly._

_No!!!

* * *

_**phew! Finally done! x.x**

**ahaha...Johnny and Bob. Bob. BOB. You would think that I would come up with better names...but noooooo. But I like Bob. Bob is sexy. :D My little Bob. Bobbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb...I'm going to shut up now.**


	7. Chapter 7

**And poof! Chapter seven appears! Sorry it's sooo late, I'm lazy. So is my monkey. But that's another story.**

**Disclaimer: Vincent Valentine belongs to meeeeeee! ME! Ahem, cough. No he doesn't. We all know who owns him, so I'm going to stop writing these things...yeah yeah, i dont own anyone from Final Fantasy, so dont sue me!**

**C****hapter 7**

She awoke, screaming. It took a minute for her to calm down and figure out where she was. The laboratory was gone...it was just her in a bed. She was panting and drenched in sweat. A dream...nightmare...no. It was a memory.

She looked up and saw a worried Vincent walk into the room.

"Are you okay?" he quickly rushed to her side. "Bad dream?"

Her wide eyes just stared at him for awhile, until she couldn't hold back the tears anymore. One of her shaking hands grabbed his shirt.

He looked at her in surprise, but then he wrapped his arms around her. "It's okay. It's just a dream."

"...no..." she barely choked out the words through sobs. "Its not..."

"Vira..."

"...Don't...don't pretend you care..."

"But...I do..."

"No! No one cares!"

'_They've all abandoned__ you...no one cares about you anymore.'_

He ran his clawed hand through her hair. He felt so sorry for her. He could see all the pain and fear in her eyes. She was so young...it wasn't right. If only he'd taken care of Hojo...then he wouldn't have done this...how was he still alive? He died...Vincent was positive about that. Did someone resurrect him? Was that even possible?

"You know that's not true..."

"...go away." She pulled out of his grip and turned around so he was facing her back.

"No. I won't."

"...you think you can help me? Make me happy again? Sorry, but that's not possible."

"……No. I doubt I could help you. I can't…..help anybody…"

"Oh, boo hoo."

"……….."

"Always acting like you have such a bad life! Get over yourself!"

"Don't…."

"Don't you 'don't' me! You don't know how good you have it! You're lucky! You have friends! And all you do is emo around like you have the worst life possible!"

"Shut up. You don't know anything." His eyes narrowed in anger.

"I do! I know everything about your pathetic little life! Everything! More than even you know. You got off easy alright? So stop being so selfish!" She finished yelling at him, then turned away, panting, trying to rub the tears from her eyes.

"………" He looked at her in shock, dumbfounded. How did she know all this? It wasn't possible. "……..Why do you know this?" He was pale.

"…….I……your files are on Hojo's computer….."

"…I see……." He looked down, deep in thought. "Vira-"

"Vincent! Is Vira awake yet?" Yuffie came bounding into the room.

"...I doubt anyone could sleep through the noise you're making, Yuffie."

"Oh shut up grumpy bum." She scowled at him.

"...What is it that you want?"

"I wanted to know how Vira was feeling. Is there something wrong with that?"

"She's fine..."

Vira looked back and forth between them. They were talking about her like she wasn't even there. Quite annoying actually.

"Well, if you're hungry, Teef is cooking something. Have fun!" She skipped off.

"..."

Well this was awkward. She hadn't meant to yell at Vincent like that. She just kinda...lost it. Now he hated her. Maybe that was a good thing. Hopefully now he'd let her leave.

They both sat there, in uncomfortable silence, for a couple of minutes. Finally, Vira spoke.

"So...um...how did I get here?"

"I found you in an alley, getting attacked by thugs." His tine was unreadable.

"Oh."

"You don't remember?"

"...I guess not..."

Once again, they sat in silence. Vira looked out the window, wishing that she was outside. The weather was fabulous.

"You hate me don't you?" she finally asked him.

He looked up at her. "...No. But I never thought that you were jealous of me."

"I-I'm...not jealous! I just...maybe you should appreciate what you have...your friends..."

"What makes you think I don't?"

"...By the way you always act..."

"..."

She sighed. "Well, I'm leaving." She got up, but he grabbed her arm.

"Why are you so intent on leaving? Have we offended you somehow?"

"No...I just have to go."

"Why?"

"It's none of your business!" She snapped and pulled her arm out o f his grip.

He stood up. "I want to know."

"...There's nothing you can do..." She whispered and turned away from him.

"You don't know that..."

She turned back towards him and a look of annoyance crossed her face. "What's your problem? Why wont you leave me alone?!"

"Because..."

"You can't help me alright?! ...No one can...and I don't want to hurt you anymore..."

He gave her with a curious look. "Hurt...me?"

"..." She looked away.

"...If you just told me the truth and stopped avoiding my questions, then maybe I could help you...why wont you tell me anything?"

"Because...I'm...I'm scared...and what has happened to me is none off your business!"

"It is..."

"No! It's not, okay?!"

"Vira...I can't help you if you don't want me to. If you really want to leave then go. I won't stop you."

His words cut her deep. "...So you don't care about me..."

His face remained expressionless as he looked down at her.

"I was stupid...thinking someone actually liked me...I hate you!"

He narrowed his eyes. "I have tried to help you, and all you do is get mad. Do not blame this on me. You are just too stubborn to accept help."

"It's not like that! I thought you would understand! You, of all people might be able to help me. After all, you knew him too!"

"I can't help people. If you're looking for that, then go to someone else."

"No! You...you're...the only..."

"...The only...?"

"...This is all your fault...everything's your fault!"

"What?!"

"If you didn't exist, then I wouldn't be an experiment!!"

He looked at her in shock. How was this his fault? Unless...

"Why? Why do you say that?"

"..." Once again, she had said something she didn't mean. Why couldn't she keep her mouth shut? "I'm sorry...I didn't mean...this is why I want to leave! I can only ever say mean things to you...I'm so sorry..."

'_I'm so sorry...'_

"Vira...don't..."

"It's not your fault...It's his...even if you didn't exist...he would have picked something else..."

"..." He kneeled down in front of her and looked up into her tear-filled eyes. "There's something...I can see it in your eyes..."

"...I..." She looked away. "I'm just...a...you..."

"What?"

She looked back at him. "All the experiments performed on me are simular to yours."

"How...?" His eyes were wide. "It's not possible..."

"Yes it is. You have...so many errors. You're weak. Your main weapon was Chaos, but now he has returned to the planet."

"...Are you Chaos?" he dreaded the answer.

"No...not exactly. I'm worse...but I can control my demons."

"...I...Hojo is dead. How could he have done this?"

"I...I don't think it's him..."

"What?"

"Hojo...I don't think he's Hojo...I see...it all makes sense now..." She mumbled thoughtfully.

Vincent looked at her puzzled.

"...never mind. I guess you want me to leave now."

"No...not to you tell me everything."

"Oh, I get it. All you want from me is the information. Then I'm useless. You cold hearted basta-"

"Shut up. That wasn't what I meant."

"...I know...sorry..."

"...Why do you always snap at me?"

"I...cant help it...all I know is anger...I couldn't be nice even if I tried..."

"That's not true."

"..." Her eyes widened as she felt his arms wrap around her and pull her close. "...Vincent...?"

"Vira...I know that you are a good person. Don't believe what that madman told you..." He whispered gently into her ear. "He wants you to hate. But you don't have to."

"...b-but...I...I'm just a tool..."

"No. You're not."

"Yes...tools don't have a right to love or be loved..."

"...If I recall correctly, a tool is an object that you use to help with things you have to do. They don't breathe or feel. They don't feel hate or love. And you seem to be breathing and talking. So I wouldn't call you a tool."

She looked up at him in surprise, and saw a small smile residing on his face. "...Vincent...thank you..." She smiled and hugged him back, sobbing into his shirt. "Thank you..."

He pulled her closer. "For what? I was just stating the obvious."

His comment made her giggle. "Yes..."

"…………"

"But Vincent……I…I still have to leave……"

"No…"

"I'm sorry…but I have to. It has nothing to do with you. If I don't…..then…"

"Then what? What is it you're hiding?"

"I……I will be dead soon……I can't……"

"What? Dead?"

She looked sadly at him. "My body is not as strong as yours. Without mako, I'll……my body shuts down. Rots away. But I knew this when I left, so it doesn't matter……I'm not going to go back there…I just want to find somewhere were I can die…"

"Vira……there has to be something else…"

"No! There isn't! Besides, I don't have much longer……just forget about me okay? Go back to living with your happy little friends in your happy little world."

"………" He turned away deep in thought for a couple of minutes. Then he turned back to her. "Mako…you say?"

"Yeah…pure mako. But it's hard to come by these days. Why do you ask?" She looked at him curiously.

"I…..I think I know where we can get some."

"Huh? No…Why are you doing this? Cant you just let me go?"

"Vira…" He could see the pain in her eyes. She wanted his help, but had been alone her whole life, so she naturally rejected him. But he would help her. After all this was his fault. He couldn't stop Hojo. "I promised that I would protect you. And I'm not about to break that promise."

"Vincent…please…this is hard enough……and I deserve to die…you wouldn't want to protect me…"

"Why not? What did you do?"

"I……hurt a lot of people…"

"…What do you mean?"

"I…don't want to talk about it…its painful enough just living, knowing what I did……"

"……Was it your fault?"

"I was younger then……I didn't know what I was doing…..and he….he made me….."

"Who? Hojo?"

She nodded and looked down.

That bastard. He had no right to do people's lives…and he enjoyed it. That made Vincent sick. He wanted to help Vira…but…what could he do? Even if she survived, even if he got the mako, would it matter? She was broken and there was no way someone like him could fix her. But…he could try. At least he knew one thing. He wasn't going to let Vira die. He wasn't going to let Hojo use her anymore.

"Vira."

She looked up at him, a couple of tears still residing on her cheeks. Her eyes widened when she realised that he was smiling. His smile was so warm; it made her feel like everything was going to be okay.

"You don't need to worry about anything anymore. I'll protect you. I will…save you." With his right hand, he wiped her tears away.

"……H-how can you say that? How….why do you make me feel this way?"

"…I'm not sure what you mean……"

"I feel…like what you're saying is true…"

"It is."

"………but…"

"**It is.**"

"………Before, you said something about mako…"

"Ah, yes. How long do you think you have?"

"Uh….I'm not really sure……maybe a couple of months…"

"That's not long enough…."

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

"Has anyone explained to you the WTO?"

"The what?"

"Obviously not. The WTO -World Terrorist Organisation- is the reason I am here in the first place. You've heard of the WRO?"

"Of course."

"Well, the WTO are direct enemies of the WRO. They seem to want to ruin any chance we have of fixing this planet. And it's been hard these couple of years, since Reeve has been working hard to try and recover from Deepground's assaults. We don't know where they're getting their supplies from, but I doubt that the WRO can hold out much longer on their own."

"So they expect Vincent Valentine to save the world for a second time. Or maybe Mr. Strife?"

"….Probably. I'm not to keen on the idea, but they seem pretty desperate-sending Cloud to come beg me for help."

"Better not think yourself all high-and-almighty just yet, Vincent. What are you going to do without Chaos?"

"I don't need him."

"Still, he was your strongest point. You can't deny that."

"……I can handle myself."

"…I wish I could help you…but my abilities…they're gone…"

"…Abilities?"

"Yeah…regeneration, super speed and strength, increased hearing and eyesight…that kinda stuff." She looked at his shocked face. "What?"

"I just…never mind. It just sounds a bit like SOLDIER."

"Nah…I'm nothing like them. I've been wondering if…"

"Wondering?"

"Wondering…if there is anything that can kill me, apart from mako. But if I let Hojo finish the experiments, I will start not needing mako anymore. Then I will be invincible. But I don't want that. That's why I escaped."

"Invincible…?"

"Yeah…I'm the ultimate weapon. At least that's what Hojo wants me to be. But……during my fight with the men on the Shera…they're from the WTO right?"

"Yes."

"Well, before I fought them, I broke my ankle. I remember hating you and then my ankle healed. I think that if I focus my hate, I regain my old abilities…well some of them, anyway."

"Hate? Why hate?"

"I'm not sure…I don't really know how this works…"

"Why don't we concentrate on saving you first? I'm sure that the WTO have a huge storage of mako-pure mako."

"Really?" Her eyes gleamed with hope.

"Yes. But I don't know if we will be able to impetrate their base. If we had more time, then…"

"You don't need to sacrifice people's lives just to save me…it's too dangerous…" Already, the hope had disappeared.

"Don't say that. We were planning a full offensive anyway. I just don't know if we can do it-we don't have enough information on their base. But maybe Shelke can do a SND…"

"Shelke?"

"Yes. You haven't met her yet. She's been busy helping Reeve out at the WRO headquarters."

"Okay…"

"….There's been something that has been troubling me ever since I met you…."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"I feel like I know you…or we've met before…it's strange…"

"We haven't..."

"How long were you an experiment? When did you first meet Hojo?"

"I...I met him when I was four years of age. I have been with him ever since. Well, unto, you know."

"I see...maybe I'm just imagining it. Forget I said anything."

"...If you say so..."

"Come on, let's go."

"Huh? Go where?"

"Shopping."

"Shopping?"

"Yes. We need supplies and Cid still hasn't finished fixing the ship yet. Tifa and Yuffie also wanted to get you some new clothes, I believe."

"Ok. Then what?"

"What do you mean?"

"Um...nothing...don't worry about it."

"...Lets just go.

"Yeah."

* * *

_Oh my god. I __can't believe I'm doing this._

"How does it look?"

"Uh..."

"C'mon Vira, show us."

"..." She timidly crept pout the changing room to see an excited Tifa and Yuffie looking at her expectantly.

"Oh my, that looks nice."

Yuffie squealed excitedly. "It's so pretty!!!"

"Um...uh...it's not very appropriate..." She felt her face redden and she tugged nervously at the corners of the dress. It was pink and had a beautiful flower pattern along the edges. Looked more like something out of a romance movie. There was even a matching pink hat.

"But it looks so nice on you." Tifa smiled warmly while examining it. "It fits you very nicely too."

"She looks like a little girl! It's adorable!"

"..." Vira shifted awkwardly.

"I think we should take it."

She regretted letting Yuffie and Tifa take her clothes shopping. Sure, they had good taste and she had found a couple of nice outfits, but this? Trying on dresses? It was torture. She couldn't even imagine walking around the Shera or the Hotel or anywhere at all in a dress! It's completely embarrassing... She was just lucky that the guys hadn't come in the shop. Cid was repairing the Shera, but Vincent and Cloud were outside the store talking, and she prayed that they didn't turn around and see her.

"Vincent! Cloud! Come take a look at Vira!!" Yuffie's voice ran out through the store and broke Vira from her thoughts.

She grimaced and looked towards the ninja. What the hell was she doing? Oh no...they were turning around...Vincent's eyes met hers for a spilt second before she ran back into the changing room.

"Vira! Don't run away!" Tifa called after her.

"Is something wrong?" Vincent walked up to them, being followed by Cloud.

"Nah...we just wanna show you Vira's new dress..."

"Dress?"

"Yeah! She looks soooo cute! It's pretty and pink and..."

"Alright then Yuffie." Vincent interrupted her. "Cloud and I need to get back to discussing plans..."

"No! Don't leave yet! You have to see it!"

He sighed at her impatience. "...Whatever."

"C'mon Vira...please..." Tifa pleaded with her from behind a closed dressing room door. "It looks nice..."

"No, it doesn't!"

"Vira..."

"Can we just leave? Cid will have finished repairing the Shera by now."

"Vince is such a grumpy bum!"

"No. I'm just sick of being dragged around a ridiculous shopping centre all day. Don't you think you have enough clothes?"

"You can never have enough clothes!"

Sensing an argument starting, Vira quickly butted in, "Please don't fight!" But in the process, she had stepped out of the changing room without even realising it. So it took her awhile to figure out why Vincent was staring at her weirdly. When it dawned on her, her face turned crimson and she ran back into the changing room.

"..."

"I...hate...this..." She sobbed quietly to herself.

"So wadda think Vince? Doesn't she look cute in a dress?"

"...Why a dress? They just get in the way when you're in battle."

"Oh my god! Can't you think about anything else than fighting? She looks adorable!"

"..." Vira moaned and sobbed even louder. She was going to kill Yuffie. This was _so _humiliating.

"I guess so... Are you alright in there?" He asked after hearing her moan.

"..." Did he really think it was nice? She peeked out from behind the door, her cheeks still slightly pink. But when he looked back at her she went redder and retreated to the changing room once again.

"Vira..."

She looked out once again and he was still returning her gaze. Then, to her surprise, his face softened into a smile.

"It looks good on you."

_Did he really just say..._

"Wow! Am I dreaming?! Did the most emoest, annoying, evil man in the whole wide world just smile? And say something nice?! This is one amazing day folks!" Yuffie exclaimed in a over exaggerated voice.

"Shut up Yuffie." He turned away and walked out the shop.

"Someone got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning."

"...So, Vira...did you want to buy that dress?"

"Um...yeah..." She came out the changing room in her normal clothes.

"Alright then."

_How embarrassing...but Vincent said that it looked nice and...he wouldn't lie, right? I guess that means it really does look good..._

She smiled to herself and followed the others out the shop, happy to be finally heading home after a tiring day.

* * *

When they returned, they were greeted by a madly insane Cid. Some men from his crew were trying their best to calm him down, but having little luck. Vira, having never seen this side of him before, had immediately retreated to hiding behind Vincent, hoping that he would save her from his wrath.

Vincent, also not wanting to bother trying to cheer him up, had decided that it would be best to head straight back to the hotel with Vira. Besides, Tifa should've been able to find out what was wrong. He guessed it had something to do with the Shera, since it didn't seem anywhere near being fully repaired. Cid would calm down _eventually_. Until then, he had better things to do. So he and Vira went back to the Hotel.

When they got there, Vira was pleased to see that he had gotten her a bigger room. But she was still sharing with Tifa and Yuffie, unfortunately. She had wanted to share with Vincent, since he never annoyed her. Yuffie constantly teased her and if she found out that she was claustrophobic, well...that would be hell. She prayed that Vincent hadn't told anyone _wh_y he got them a bigger room.

"Is something wrong?" Vincent leaned down next to her, concern showing on his face.

"Um...no...I was just thinking..."

"Thinking? About what?"

"Nothing important..." She shook the thoughts from her head. "Why was Cid acting like that?"

"Something probably went wrong with the Shera...he tends to lose his temper quite easily when it comes to that."

"Oh...ok then. So um...thanks..."

"For?"

"Uh...for getting a bigger room. I appreciate it." She smiled weakly.

"It's no big deal. But I you don't mind me asking, why are you...?"

"I...I don't like being locked in little spaces. Especially when I can't get out..." She whispered the last sentence.

"But...the room wasn't that small..."

"It's not my fault alright!" She quickly snapped without meaning to, and then turned away.

"I...didn't say it was..."

"No...I'm sorry." She shook her head in apology then scanned the room, looking for something that would change the subject. Her eyes spied a pack of cards that Yuffie must have left on the drawer. "Um...do you know how to play cards?"

"...?" His gaze followed hers until he saw the cards. "Yes. You?"

"Um...no. Will you teach me?"

"Alright."

She brightened at his answer and soon they were playing a couple of different card games.

* * *

Tifa and Yuffie had been surprised to see Vira and Vincent sitting on the floor placidly while entertaining themselves, but had then agreed to join in. And soon after, they had got changed into nicer clothes and had gone to a nice middle class restaurant for dinner.

To her delight, Vira had gotten to sit next to Vincent for once, which was a change from the girls daily gossip. Although, he hadn't changed his outfit-which was earning him strange stares from the rest of the people there and the waiters. He was probably used to it though. She had decided to wear long back pants and a nice red top that she had found today. The top was sleeve-less and she felt strange exposing her arms, but Tifa had said it looked good on her. As well as going to the trouble of tying her hair up-something she had never done before-she usually just let it hang lose and messy. She also hoped that a certain someone would notice the colours she had picked. But he probably wouldn't.

"So Vira, what did you want to eat and drink tonight?"

"Um..." Without knowing why, she felt a blush starting to creep along her cheeks. Why did that happen whenever she heard his voice? "I-I'm not sure yet..." She hadn't even eaten any of the foods on the menu before, so she had no idea what to pick. "What's good?"

"Hmm...do you like meat?"

"Yes..."

"Then maybe you should go for a steak or rib-fillet or something..."

"Ok..."

In the end, she ended up ordering the same thing as Vincent did; a medium-rare steak with assorted salads and some fries. Most of the others had gotten something more fancy or complicated, but she was happy with her boring old steak. It tasted really good.

"Enjoying that?"

"Um...yes. It's...really...good." She managed between mouthfuls.

"Slow down, you choke yourself."

"No...I...wont..." She started coughing, not being able to swallow the last bit of steak properly.

He smiled at her impatience and patted her lightly on the back. "It's not going to run away you know, so you can take your time."

She stiffed when she felt him touch her, but then relaxed and grinned foolishly at him. "Uh...yeah...I guess not...It's just really good..."

Where she came from, you ate quickly or didn't get anything at all.

"That's good to hear. I'm glad you like it."

She looked back up at his smiling face and felt another smile tug at her lips. "This...this is nice." She looked towards everyone-who were all engaged in deep conversation and seemed to be having fun.

"Hmm?"

"Having...friends...well not really friends...but being with you guys..."

"...You think so?"

"Yeah...Better than being alone, anyway."

"I guess so..." He looked back at her. "You are enjoying yourself?"

"Yes. I am." She smiled sweetly up at him. "Very much."

"That's good."

The rest of the night went well, and Vira was included in most the conversations-especially when Yuffie had told _everyone_ about her new dress and how pretty it had looked. Cid seemed to find this exceptionally funny. Completely embarrassed, she didn't say anything, but luckily, Tifa came to her rescue, telling Cid to get over it because it looked good on her and was not a four year old dress. That seemed to shut him up. Apart from that one uneasy conversation, Vira thoroughly enjoyed herself. She found herself feeling quite comfortable in their presence. And she couldn't seem to get the smile of her face. Every time she did, someone else would say something funny and she'd find herself laughing. She had never felt this way before. And she had to admit she liked it. She really wanted to stay with them, but she knew that it wouldn't be possible, since they were preparing for war against the WTO. But she didn't want to worry about that right now. She was having too much fun.

"Are they really getting married?!" Tifa's surprised voice ran out through the table.

"Yeah." Yuffie answered her. "I heard it from Reno."

"Psssh! Don't believe anything that scumbag tells ya." Cid snorted.

"But he swears it!"

"So what? He was probably on crack or something."

"I doubt it Cid. He is a turk after all. Like he's gonna take drugs, especially when he's at work!"

"Why are ya sticking up for him so much? Ya like him or something?!"

"No!" Yuffie went slightly crimson though.

"Ah...I sees it now...How pathetic. Think you could like someone with a brain, but then again, you don't have a brain either, so it all works out."

"SHUT UP! SHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUP!!!!" Yuffie lunged at him from across the table with an ear frightening yell-earning frightened looks from the rest of the restaurant.

"Yuffie please!" Tifa desperately tried to hold her back, with little avail.

"Someone shut that crazy woman up."

"I'LL KILL YOU, YOU f''N SON OF A-"

Vincent grabbed Vira's arm. "Let's get out of here before things get any worse."

"Uh-huh." She followed him out the restaurant.

When they were safely outside-away from Yuffie's impending wrath-Vira leaned against the wall next to him and admired the stars.

"They're so pretty..."

"Hm?"

"The stars."

"Oh...yeah." He looked back at her.

Noticing his eyes on her, she turned to face him. "Is there something on my face?"

"No...Its just...Your hair looks nice up."

"Uh...you think so?" She blushed and turned away.

"Yes. You can see your eyes for once. It's nice."

"... Thanks..."

"...the stars are nice." He turned back to the night sky.

"Yes...yes they are."

_Just like you... _she thought to herself and smiled.

"I wonder if the others are done killing each other yet…"

"YOU CAN'T DO THIS! I AM THE GREAT NINJA YUFFIE!!"

"Speak of the devil..." They both turned around to see a flustered waiter hushing Yuffie and the others out the restaurant.

"I'm sorry miss, but you're disturbing the other customers…"

"I DON'T CARE!!"

"Yuffie, please!" Tifa quickly grabbed her arm and apologised to the waiter before dragging her away.

"Well……that was a colourful evening…" Vira commented, her gaze still lingering on Yuffie.

"Indeed." Vincent looked back towards Vira. "Let's get going. You must be tired."

"Yeah…." She followed him back to the Hotel, trying to ignore Yuffie's whining.

* * *

She lay in her bed at the Hotel staring at the ceiling and reminiscing about the day. She learnt so much that she didn't even know if she could stop all the information from escaping her head to someplace far away.

"_I feel like I know you…or we've met before…it's strange…"_

Vincent….he still remembered that? It was eight years ago…when she was younger…she had called him. Asked for his help. But he…

_Vincent observed his surroundings. Where was he? It looked like an old, abandoned building. If he wasn't careful, the whole place could come crashing down. He had to find Cloud and the others. Where were they? Looking around, he __saw an old device. Walking up to it to get a closer look, he noticed that it was some kind of video-phone, but it didn't seem to be working. Although it seemed to be in pretty good condition compared to the rest of the building. He turned to walk away, when he saw the device flicker to life._

"_...Vincent Valentine..."_

_His eyes widened when he heard the voice call his name. Moving closer, he looked down into the screen to see who it was, but the picture was blurry._

"_Vincent...Valentine..."_

_It sounded like a girl. After staring into the screen a little longer, he confirmed that it was. She looked about six or seven years old._

"_Yes?" _

"_I...please...help...me..."_

_He was barely able to understand what she was saying through the static._

"_Please...I can't...much longer..."_

"_I can't understand you..."_

"_...Please! He...he...wants...I saw...you...I know...help...please..."_

"_Help? How?__ Who are you?"_

"_...Vi...ra...please...you need...Kill...kill..."_

"_Kill?"_

"_...him...he...will...he will...you must..."_

"_Who? Who is him?"_

"_He...Hoj-"_

_The voice was suddenly cut off by a scream and it went black._

"_Hey! Hey!!"_

_Giving up, he decided to find the others. They couldn't be too far away. But when he finally caught up, he didn't tell them anything about it._

"Vira!"

Vincent suddenly sat up, the memory still fresh in his head. He remembered now! That girl...that had been a younger Vira. He knew that he had met her somewhere before. With everything that had happened, he had forgotten all about her plea for help. Then he went back to sleep in the Shinra mansion. And she had found him.

Deep in thought, he walked out his room into the street and to his surprise; he saw another person there-leaning against the wall.

* * *

He had abounded her...

No. She couldn't think that. How could he have helped her when he didn't know who or where she was...maybe he just forgot. Or gave up. Either way it didn't matter. She ended up finding him, even if it was an accident.

"Vira?"

She looked towards the voice and saw Vincent walking towards her.

"Oh, Vincent! Hello."

He nodded in greeting and stood beside her. "Cant sleep?"

"Not really...Yuffie's snoring woke me up."

"...I see. You know, if you just punch her out cold, she shuts up."

"That's not very nice!"

"..."

"...You're strange Vincent..."

"And you're not?"

"Never said I wasn't..."

"...I hope you weren't planning on running away again."

"Uh...No! I wasn't...I swear!"

"Very well then."

"Why did you think that I..."

"It's just...last time...never mind."

"..."

Vincent looked down in surprise when he felt her arms wrap around his right arm.

"I won't leave...not anymore." She rested her head on his shoulder.

"Vira...I'm sorry."

"Eh? For what?"

His clawed hand lightly patted her head. "You...I remember now. Eight years ago...you begged for my help. But I didn't do anything...In the end, I just forgot all about it."

"Mmmm...It's not your fault, Vincent. I was desperate back then...and young. I didn't know how to reach you...even if you wanted to help, I doubt you could do anything. Besides that's all in the past now. I don't want to think about it anymore."

"...Alright then. But what are you going to do now? Is Shinra still after you?"

"I think that they might have given up...but if I go back there then...Hojo will get me again. I want to stay here and help you. You've...done so much for me and I can't help you at all...it's..."

"Vira. It's okay. You don't have to do anything."

"Yes I do! And I will."

"..."

She sighed and leaned closer to him-enjoying it, but not knowing why. What was this feeling? It wasn't love, she knew that much. Maybe it was admiration...yes that had to be it. She didn't love him. That wasn't possible. She closed her eyes and felt her head droop slightly.

"...You look tired. Why don't you get some rest?"

"Hmmm? Oh...yeah..." She yawned and let go of his arm. "Goodnight Vincent."

"Goodnight. I will see you tomorrow."

"Yeah..."

With that, she climbed back in the window to her room and watched him walk off with a smile on her face.

* * *

**yay...done...i think thats the most i've ever written. Although, Chapter 8 will probably be longer. Until then, bye byeee!! Merry Christmas! And a happy new year!**


	8. Chapter 8

**And here's the next chappie! Sorry it took so long, I know, I'm slow...please forgive me...**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Mr. Sexy aka Vincent Valentine.**

**Chapter 8**

"Mmm...mm..." Vira stared sleepily down at her cereal, watching the chocolate bits float around in circles.

"What's the matter Vira? Didn't get enough sleep last night?" Tifa asked worriedly.

"How can you sleep through Yuffie's snoring?"

"Yuffie snores?"

She sighed and flopped her head down on the table. "...This sucks..."

"Your cereal will go soggy..."

"...urgh..." She got back up and twirled her spoon around in it.

"Good morning everyone." Vincent walked into the room and eyed a grumpy Vira. "Is something wrong?"

"..."

"She didn't get much sleep last night..."

"Oh. Where's Yuffie?"

"She went out. I don't know why though."

"...I see." He sat down next to Vira and helped himself to the cereal.

"...mmm...ponies..." She mumbled sleepily.

"Ponies?" Vincent eyed her strangely.

Tifa giggled.

"...mhmhmmm...meoww..." She mumbled some other strange words that Vincent couldn't figure out before suddenly moving her arm in a slapping motion and hitting Vincent straight across the face.

"Oh my!"

"...That hurt." He glared down evilly at her sleeping form.

"...take that evil doer!! ...ahahahahahaha..."

"She's drooling. That's disgusting." He turned away and went back to eating his cereal.

"...mmmm...huh?" She opened her eyes slowly and looked around the room. "What's that look for?" She asked Vincent.

"...You hit me."

"I did? Oh, sorry 'bout that..." She waved her hand and yawned sleepily.

"..." He gave her an annoyed look before turning back to his breakfast.

She responded by looking at him blankly.

"Hey guys! Guess what?!" Yuffie ran into the room, a look of excitement plastered on her face.

"What?"

"There's a festival on tomorrow night!"

"That's nice..." Vincent said without even looking up.

"Festival...?"

"Yeah! We all should go! It'll be awesome!"

"I don't know Yuffie..." Tifa said.

"C'mon!! It'll be awesome!"

"I've never been to a festival..." Vira looked at Tifa and Vincent with pleading eyes.

Vincent returned her gaze, expressionless, before turning to Tifa. "I think that maybe we should. It will be good to take a break from battle. Why don't you ask Cloud and Cid?"

"Alright...I guess so. I'll ask them today."

"Yay! This'll be great!" Yuffie sat down on the other side of Vira. "So what's for breakfast?"

"Cereal."

"Awwww! That's boring! Doesn't this Hotel have pancakes?!"

Vira turned to Vincent and tugged at his sleeve.

"...Huh?"

"...thanks." She smiled innocently at him.

"..." He hit her over the back of her head.

"Hey! What's that for?!"

"Earlier."

"..." She pulled a grumpy face. "Meanie!"

"Get used to it."

"………"

* * *

"Are you three ready yet?!" Vincent called out in irritation.

"Not yet!" Yuffie's voice answered him from behind a closed door.

"It can't take that long to get changed!"

"Yes it can! We wanna look nice for tonight, you know!"

Vincent sighed, obviously fed up.

It was the night of the festival and the three girls where busy preparing their outfits for the evening. Vincent, Cloud and Cid were already ready and were waiting for them. Vincent however, was getting impatient.

"Don't worry Vincent, we're nearly done." Vira reassured him.

"Fine….I'll be outside with the other two."

After about six more minutes, the girls finally came out. Vincent and Cloud were completely blown away. Cid didn't seem too interested, since he was already married to Shera.

"T-Tifa….you look….nice."

"Nice?" She giggled at Clouds statement.

"Ah…..no…..I meant…."

She chuckled softly and took his arm in hers. "Stop gaping. You look like a goldfish."

He quickly shut his mouth.

Vincent however, hid his feelings, showing no emotion at all. He wasn't in love with Vira like Cloud was with Tifa, but he had to admit that she looked beautiful. She had chosen to wear a long dress that came down to her ankles and it wasn't revealing like Yuffie's. The dress complemented her nicely and did her justice, unlike the other baggy clothes she liked to wear. He never actually noticed how slim she was before. She definitely needed to eat more. The colours were outstanding too. It was a medium red-almost blood red-and had black outlining it. He noticed how she always picked those colours to wear. It was strange. But he had to admit that the colours suited her. The dress was rather simple and not to fancy, but it looked good on her.

"I feel strange wearing this." Vira smiled nervously at Vincent.

"You look nice."

She blushed slightly and looked down. "But it's….I'm not found of showing this much skin…"

True, the neckline was V shaped, but it didn't come down far. The dress didn't have long sleeves either.

"What do you mean? That's nothing. Just look at Yuffie."

She giggled as she replied, "Yes…..She's hoping that a certain someone will show up tonight…"

"Ha……I almost feel sorry for him…"

"Why? Yuffie's not that bad…"

"If you say so…Lets catch up to the others, shall we?"

"Yeah. I have a feeling that tonight's going to be really fun…"

"Why wouldn't it be?"

"Oh….I didn't mean it like that…"

Vincent just smiled in return and motioned for her to follow him as he made his way to the others.

Vira was happy that he liked her dress; after all, Tifa had spent a lot of time persuading her to wear it. She didn't feel comfortable in it because of how tight it was (It wasn't really that tight, Vira is just self-conscious) and she didn't really think that she had the looks to wear something like that. Although, she should have found a dress that was a different colour. Most the clothes she had were red and black and Yuffie was already getting suspicious of the colours-saying they reminded her of a certain someone. It couldn't be that obvious, could it?

As she followed him, she observed what he was wearing. He had finally-after a lot of persuasion from Yuffie-changed his outfit. Instead of the billowing red cloak and black clothes, he was wearing a more 'normal' attire. It consisted of long black pants, a buttoned up white (yes, you heard me, **white**) formal shirt, black formal shoes and he had actually ditched the red headband. (OMG, no way!) He had also attempted to tame his hair, as it was in a lose ponytail. She had to admit that he looked nice-almost normal for a change. Not that she didn't like him being different.

"Is something wrong?"

"Um…no…..just thinking."

"About what?"

"Uh…..nothing important…"

Wait! What was she saying? Vincent was important…

"Alright then. Are you hungry?"

"Ah….a little I guess…"

"We'll eat something more proper later on, but for now, Yuffie has decided to pig out on sweets. How she manages to eat so much junk and still stay skinny amazes me…"

"Sweets?"

"Yeah…have you not eaten anything like that before?"

Vira shook her head-the answer being no.

"Vincent! Vira! Hurry up you two! What's taking you so long anyway?!" Yuffie yelled and signalled for them to come over to where she was.

Vira quickly hurried over. She watched Yuffie eating what looked like a pink fuzzy cloud. "What's that?"

"Huh? Oh this? It's called fairy floss!"

"Fairy...?"

"Yeah! It's yummy! Want some?"

"Ok...I'll try it..." She found the food to be really sugary and sweet. She'd never tasted anything like it.

Yuffie watched the young girl's eyes widen in surprise when she ate some of it. "You like it?"

"...Yeah..."

"Cool! I'll buy you some!"

"Ok...Eeeekkk!" She hadn't noticed Vincent coming up behind her and when he put his hand on her shoulder she jumped up and screamed.

"Ah...I'm sorry!" He quickly let go. "I didn't mean to scare you..."

"No...sorry...I shouldn't have screamed...um...do you want some?"

"Huh?"

"Fairy Floss." She held it up in front of him.

"Uh...I'll pass..." But after seeing her hurt expression, he snatched it out of her hands.

"Eh?"

"I don't want some, I want all of it."

"Um...ok...I'll get some more then..."

She went and got some more and soon they had parted ways with the others-Cloud and Tifa wanted to be alone, Yuffie had found Reno and Cid was off doing his own thing. So Vincent and Vira had headed off to check out some of the market stalls at the festival.

"Vincent, look! They're so pretty!"

"What have you found now?" He walked over to see her looking at a stall. "Jewellery?"

"Yes! Look how shiny some of them are!"

"Shiny, yes. Also expensive."

Her excitement turned to an apologetic look. "I didn't say that I wanted to buy them...Come on, let's go look at something else."

"Hm..." He stared at the jewellery, deep in thought.

"Vincent...come on..." She begged and tugged at his sleeve.

'I don't want him wasting his money on me...' She thought miserably.

"Which one do you like?"

"Huh? Which one do I like? Well, that one is pretty...why do you ask?" When it finally dawned on her why he had asked her, he had already bought it.

"Here."

"No! Why did you...don't waste your money on me Vincent!"

"Just don't ask for anything else, okay?"

"But..."

"No buts. Come on, we're wasting time staying here."

"...Vincent..." His evil look silenced her. "Thank you..." She whispered quietly.

"No, thank you."

"Huh?"

She wanted to ask why he had thanked her, but he had already stared walking off, so she ran after him. When she finally caught up, she looked at him quizzically, but he just smiled.

"Do you want to check out the games they have here?"

"...Games?"

"Yeah, you can win prizes and stuff like that. I doubt you would want to go on any rollercoasters in those clothes."

"What do you mean? That didn't stop Yuffie."

"Huh?" He looked up at one of the nearby rollercoasters to see Yuffie and Reno having the time of there lives. "Acting like children...again."

"Hm? What's wrong with having fun? Come on, I really wanna try it. It looks like fun. Besides, I'm wearing shorts underneath this."

"How can being on an unstable piece of machinery and spinning around in circles be fun?"

"You won't get it to you try!"

"...fine." There was no way he could say no to her when she had that idiotic smile on her face. "But if anything goes wrong, I will kill you."

"Okay!" She happily ran towards it, dragging Vincent by the arm. "Afterwards, let's try those prize games!"

He sighed and hung his head in defeat. This was going to be a long night.

"But...you wouldn't actually kill me, would you?" A look of worry crossed her face.

"Kill, no. But I would hurt you."

She gulped as they got on the ride. She began praying with all her might that nothing went wrong.

* * *

"That was so much fun!" Vira cried out happily.

"I agree! But I never thought that it was possible to get Vince on those things." Yuffie chuckled.

"...Shut up."

The three of them were currently on a hill, one of the best spots to view the fireworks.

"Ah, I'm so exhausted!" Vira flopped back, landing on some soft grass.

"Well, you should be by now. You two have been on every ride and played every game you could." Vincent said, quite irritated.

"Yes!" Vira hugged some of the toys she had won from various games. "This chocobo toy is so cute! I'm gonna name him Choco!"

"Original..."

"I know!"

Vincent sighed one last time before sitting next to her and Yuffie.

"Hey guys, the fireworks will start pretty soon."

"Fireworks...?"

"Yeah! Oh, that's right, you've never seen them before hey? They're pretty romantic... Hey...um...I gotta find someone...see ya later!" She waved and ran off.

"**Reno**." Vincent and Vira both stated at the same time.

Vira looked at Vincent and giggled.

"Something wrong?"

"No...I just had lots of fun today Vincent...Thank you."

"Why are you thanking me? This was Yuffie's idea."

"Well...if it wasn't for you...then I wouldn't have met Yuffie. So yeah, thanks..."

"Stop acting like it's a big deal." He turned away so she wouldn't see the slight tinge of pink on his cheeks.

"Okay...This necklace you bought me earlier is really pretty..."

"I'm glad you like it."

"Mmm...I'm never gonna take it off."

"..."

She turned to say something else to him but a huge bang when off somewhere-scaring the living daylights out of her and making her jump up. Straight into Vincent's arms. She looked up in surprise and to her horror-felt her face redden dramatically.

"Ah..." Vincent looked down at her in surprise, and felt himself blush slightly. "...It's just the fireworks starting y'know...you don't need to jump..."

"I-I...I'm so sorry...uh...forgive me." She quickly sat back down on the grass and looked away in embarrassment.

"...Why do you get scared so easily, anyway?"

"I can't….help it…" She looked up at the night sky and her eyes widened when she saw the fireworks. "They're really pretty…" She stood up once again and moved to the top of the hill so she could see them better.

"How are these things supposed to be romantic?" Vincent scowled.

"Well……you're a guy so I guess you wouldn't get it." A dreamy smile crossed her features.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Don't worry about it….."

"………" He stood next to her, finding her expressions more interesting than the fireworks.

"Oh, wow! Look, it's a Chocobo! And that one is shaped like a Moogle!"

"You should really get out more…."

"Not my fault!"

"Didn't say it was."

"……still…" She sighed and smiled at him, while trying to figure out what he was thinking. He was impossible to read, no matter what expression was on his face. "Vincent……"

"Hm?" He turned to face her.

"Do I……do I annoy you?"

He seemed to be surprised at her question, but then he turned back to the fireworks. "…No."

"…….that's a relief…"

"Why would you ask something like that?"

"Oh….well…I was just worried that maybe…..no. Never mind. Forget it." She shook her head lightly before turning back to the fireworks.

"You are strange……"

"So are you."

"Shut up."

She turned to face him and was about to say something back, but he silenced her by wrapping his right arm around her shoulder and pulling her in close so her head rested against his shoulder. Vira immediately blushed, but she didn't move. She had never seen this side of him before and wanted to know what he was planning. This had to be one of his schemes; maybe he was trying to steal something…? She inhaled deeply when she felt his head rest against hers-she could feel his warm breath against her temple. Not knowing how to react, she felt herself starting to panic. Not because he was acting un-Vincent-like, but because she didn't know why he was doing it or what she should do. Realising how idiotic she was being, she calmed herself down and wrapped her arms around his waist. He seemed to stiffen a bit at her touch, but then he relaxed again. Her blush increased when she felt his heartbeat. That meant that they were really close, and it made her kinda nervous. Did friends always act like this? She considered saying something, but she didn't want to 'ruin the mood'. The fireworks were beautiful, after all. Although, she could barely hear them, since all she heard was Vincent's heartbeat. It was soothing, and made her realise how exhausted she was from the long day. But she fought the urge to fall asleep, knowing it would just make trouble for Vincent-since he would have to carry her home.

She heard Vincent sigh, and she tilted her head slightly up at him, but not enough to see his face. This was unlike him, sure, he had hugged her before, but then he was only trying to cheer her up. Why now...?

"...Vira..." His voice was soft, as she barely heard it.

"...yes?" She whispered back quieter than him.

"Are you...happy?"

Her eyes went wide. Why would he ask something like that? Of course she was happy here with him and the others. Then she remembered.

"_...you think you can help me? Make me happy again? Sorry, but that's not possible."_

That's right...how could she have said that? But then again, she said a lot of other things that she wished she didn't.

"...I am." She finally replied in a gentle tone.

"...I see. I am glad."

"Yes...thank you Vincent...I'm sorry for what I said earlier. It was unnecessary..."

"Forget it. You were upset."

She smiled to herself. "But...how can you be so forgiving?"

"Forgiving? I...let's not talk about this anymore. Just enjoy the fireworks."

"Okay..." She leaned in, moving closer to him-expecting him to move away. But he didn't. Instead, she felt his arm tighten around her shoulder.

Sure, she had never had a friend before, but she knew for certain that friends did not get this close. Did they?

* * *

"Vira...Vira!"

"Mmhm?" She sleepily opened her eyes when she heard Vincent call her.

"Don't fall asleep."

"Oookaaay..." She yawned and raised her head from his chest. Wait, chest?! She quickly looked up at him, then moved away-red creeping across her face. She must have dosed off and used him as a pillow. How embarrassing... "I-I'm...sorry-y..."

"Why? It is getting late...we should head back."

"Y-yeah..."

He stood up and held out his hand to help her. "Come on."

"..." She grabbed his hand and he pulled her up. Vira found that walking in the dark was particularly hard when fighting the urge to fall asleep. She could barely keep her eyes open and her body felt weak and exhausted.

"Are you okay?" Vincent held out his hand and grabbed her just at the right moment-seconds before she nearly fell over.

"Tired..." Her body slumped against his and her eyes closed.

"It's not that far..."

"No..." She clutched onto his shirt-not wanting him to move, because then she would surely hit the ground.

He sighed quietly before picking her up and then he continued to walk back to their Hotel. "Happy now?"

She nodded sleepily before resting her head against his chest and falling asleep once again.

* * *

Vira was awakened the next morning by voices. Still half asleep, she couldn't tell who it was, but they were arguing loudly. She yawned and rubbed her eyes, then looked around. She wasn't in her room. There were three beds, just like in the room she was sharing with Yuffie and Tifa, but they were in different positions and the room was messy. Well, one third of it anyway. The bed she was sleeping in was neat. Turning her head to the left, she looked at the drawer next to the bed. It had clothes on it, and they were not female clothes. They were...Oh god. This was Vincent's bed. She was positive about that. She grabbed one of the pillows and immediately recognised Vincent's scent. Yep, definitely Vincent's bed. But why?

"Awake?"

She quickly looked up to see Vincent walk in. "Why...?"

He gave her a slightly confused look-not understanding her question.

"This is...you, Cloud and Cid sleep here right?"

"Ah...yes. When we got back last night, neither Yuffie nor Tifa had returned. I did not have the keys to your room, so you slept here." He chuckled when he saw her panicked face. "Do not worry, I slept on the floor."

"The floor?! But that's! You could have just chucked me on the floor!"

"No...Don't worry about it. Why don't you just come and get some breakfast? But, beware. Yuffie and Cid are at it again."

"Yeah...they woke me up."

"I'm sure that by the time you finished getting changed, that they will have settled down."

"Okay."

* * *

True to Vincent's words, by the time she went out into the kitchen/bar at the Hotel, they had stopped yelling. In fact, they were completely ignoring each other. Vira just enjoyed the silence. She helped herself to some cereal, while sneaking glances at Vincent. He was sitting at the other end of the room, staring out the window. Looked like a complete loner, actually. But she guessed that he liked it that way.

She noticed how the sun reflected of his hair, making it shine. And his crimson orbs seemed to absorb the light, glowing menacingly. But his expression never changed. It was like his face was stuck in a frown. But she had seen him smile before. He looked so beautiful with a smile, so why was he always so miserable?

She found herself not being able to look away from his eyes, even though he was facing a different direction and she couldn't see them properly. They were so beautiful...

She saw him turn around-almost in slow motion in her eyes-and face her. She blushed slightly and turned back to her cereal. 'Okay, that was embarrassing...stupid Vira. Why do you always do these things?!' She scolded herself mentally, not noticing him walk over.

"Is something wrong?"

"Eh?!" She jumped slightly and looked up. "Uh...not at all...why do you ask?"

"You've been staring at me all morning."

Completely speechless, she jumped up quickly and ran from the room. She could still feel his cold stare on her as she ran away.

* * *

Why the hell did I do that for?! I'm such an idiot! Running away! Jeez! Get a hold of yourself, girl!

Slightly panting, she calmed herself down and looked around, studying her surroundings. She had just ran away-not having a clue where she was going. She tended to do that a lot. So, she had learned not to panic, just to walk around and try to figure out where she was-while getting herself even more lost. But not to worry. She would find her way back. Eventually.

She dragged her feet along, because she was still quite tired from last night. Funny how she could go through torturous experiments and feel fine, but one night at a festival drained her of all her energy. The smell of food broke her thoughts and made her release that she was still hungry as well. It seemed that she had made her way to the market place and she was amazed at how many people were there. They were selling all sorts of items and objects, but she was caught on the food. Food everywhere. It made her mouth water, just looking at all the treats and fruit. Some were selling fresh fish as well. Looking through her pockets, she hoped to find something worth any value, but to her disappointment, found nothing. Sighing, she continued to walk past the stalls, hoping to find a map of some sort or directions back to the Hotel. Vira considered asking someone, but couldn't find the courage. So she kept her head down and kept walking.

I do wonder what their battle plan is….Vincent said that they needed to collect more information, but……is it just me, or are they not doing much at the moment? Maybe they just need a break….but…I don't have long. Surely Vincent knows this? He knows…..

_He won't help you. He's just using you for his own enjoyment._

No! That's not true!

_It is and you know it. Poor little Vira, all she wants is a friend._

Leave me alone! He is my friend!

_Keep telling yourself that. Just don't come crying to me when he betrays you and sends you back to Shinra._

Vincent wouldn't do that!

_Yes he would. Just imagine, how much do you think Shinra would pay him for you? With that money he could live a very happy life with his friends…_

I am his friend!

_Really……you two are a bit close for 'friends'. And he will never fall in love again. Seems like he's using you if you ask me._

Well….I'm not asking you, so shut up!

_Fine, fine. Just act stupid and ignore the facts. I pity your pathetic self._

I don't need your pity! I can look after myself!

_Of course……your all grown up now aren't you? You will regret this later on……_

No!!

She finished arguing with the voice in her head, and tried to shut it off by finding something to distract herself.

"E-excuse me sir?" She approached a middle aged man standing by his stall. "Will you explain to me how this works?" She asked while pointing to one of his 'contraptions' that he was trying to sell.

"Ah! You have fine eyesight miss, to notice this! It is one of the best materia finders around! Top notch guarantee……."

She tried her hardest to listen to his pointless blabbering, but the voice wouldn't let up.

_My, my, my. Why can't you just admit that you're only sticking with them because you want to feel needed? You don't love them…_

"Um, h-how much?"

"The price is basically ripping me off. Such a fine and wanted item like this is worth much more then 2000 gil….."

"Uh-huh."

_Such a little user. Funny that, you're trying to use them, while they're trying to use you…_

"What about this one?" She quickly pointed to another object, finding it impossible to ignore the irritating voice.

"Oh, that is the chocobo paw print. All chocobo's love it to death. One of there favourite foods."

_Using__ them to fulfil your selfish desires…_

"Why is it named that?"

"Well, as you can see, it is not a paw print at all! I do not know why they named it that, but I can guess that one of the reasons may be that it is good for both chocobos and the environment, and it relates to the theory of the environmental footprint…."

His voice continued to drone on, but she hardly heard it.

_You are so pathetic…I wonder what your precious mummy and daddy think of you now. Oh yes, they must be so proud…their daughter has grown up to be a selfish killing machine who argues with voices in her head…_

"S-shut…up…" She clenched her teeth and tried to stop the tears from flowing.

"Excuse me?" The man looked completely bewildered as he stopped explaining about the mark man has left on the planet.

_You must be insane…worse than Hojo himself. Isn't this wonderful? It makes sense why you would want to continue in his footsteps, since you've been living with him your whole life…wow, I guess he's almost your father…like father, like daughter…_

"Shut up! I don't want to hear anymore!" She ran away, tears streaming down her face.

"Uh…." He raised a hand in her direction as she ran away, then lowered it again. "…She must really love the environment…I guess it hurt her to hear about how the planet is suffering…Oh well. I'll find another customer." He turned back to the other people walking around the markets, trying to convince them to but his stock.

* * *

Vincent walked through the marketplace, his eyes searching for a certain brunette. She had to have come this way. He sighed in annoyance. This was so irritating. Why did she always run away? Did she enjoy causing him trouble?! Whatever her problem was, he needed to find her soon. The others were planning to go out and Yuffie wouldn't stop complaining until he found her. He'd do anything to shut that ninja up. Well, not anything.

Moving through the stalls in a graceful manner, he was sure that he spotted her run around the corner. Quickly following, he turned the corner and saw her sitting against the wall, hiding her face in her knees. What was she doing just sitting there?

He approached her and she raised her head slowly. She looked terrible. Tears were running down her cheeks and her hair was all messed up.

"Vira…"

* * *

And here he is. Surprise, surprise. 

She stared up into his eyes. He looked like he always did, calm and collected. But there was a hint of worry in his eyes.

"Vincent……."

_He's come to take you back to Shinra._

"No……I don't want to…"

"Vira…?" He looked at her, slightly confused.

_Will you go with him? Finish the experiments?_

"No….I won't…."

"……you don't look well…Vira, lets head back, okay?"

"No! I won't go back!!" A wild look flashed in her eyes and she jumped up-running in the opposite direction as fast as she could.

"Vira!" He called out to her but she was already gone.

* * *

**My Vincent is really out of character...some people can capture him perfectly...but I cant. Maybe I should try making him more of a loner...any suggestions?**

**Oh and I wanna send out my thanks to all the wonderful people who are reveiwing this story! It makes me so happy. And if I don't get a least one review for this chapter I don't know if I will continue writing it...because if no one is reading it I cant be bothered writing any more. So, please review! It only takes a few seconds of your time. And it makes me the happiest person alive.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Yes i know, this chapter is really short...and it took so long for me to type it! i'm sorry...and it may take me even longer to type more of this story because im also typing another one and i have major writers block...ooohh...**

**Chapter 9**

She had no idea where she was. All she knew was that she had to keep running. Running….from these people. All they wanted was to hurt her. She couldn't trust any of them. No one would ever love a monster.

She moved quickly-getting many strange stares from the people around her, but she didn't care. She didn't care about any of them.

She didn't know how much time had passed, but she guessed it had been hours. Her legs finally gave in, causing her to fall flat on her face. Slowly, she forced herself up into a sitting position. She looked around and didn't see anyone else. She was alone. She had always been alone, but after meeting him she had started to believe that someone actually cared about her. But it was all a lie. Vincent was only using her-for what purposes she did not know. She had only trusted him because he was an experiment too. A monster, just like her. She wanted to be with him and the others. She enjoyed their company. But that was a mistake. She was going to die soon, and knowing them just made it harder. But now she felt pain more than anything she could have imagined. She had trusted him and he….he had betrayed her.

No….he hasn't done anything….I'm just being stupid…

_Don't start that again! Stop fooling yourself! Can't you see the truth?! _

But….he likes me….

_No he doesn't! No one likes you!_

Finally giving in to the voice, she broke down in tears. Vira didn't even know what she was thinking anymore. She couldn't ignore that voice……it had always been there…but not like this. Now it completely controlled her thoughts…..what would be next? Would she lose control of her body?

_Now don't worry a__bout a thing…stop crying. I will help you. Just listen to me. Everything will be alright. They will pay for hurting you. Trust me…

* * *

_

"Cid."

"Heh?" The pilot turned around to see Vincent storm in, looking livid. "Something wrong?"

"Ship. Now."

Cid gulped and headed towards the Shera. He dared not to question Vincent's motives when he was like this. "So….uh….."

"I need you to find Vira. And quickly."

"Did she escape ya?" He chuckled, but immediately shut up when he received Vincent's glare. Sighing, he started the engine. "Any idea where she is?"

"Last time I saw her, she was running away from me at the markets…I tried to chase her, but she's too fast."

"What? Little Vira, faster than you? I find that hard to believe."

"Believe it."

"……Okay, I'm heading there now…"

Vincent went and sat down on a seat, while watching Cid steer the ship. This wasn't right. What was wrong with her? That look she had given him…he had seen it. There was someone else. Vira wasn't the only consciousness in that body. She had said she wasn't Chaos, but then she said something about having her own demons…he didn't know much, but he knew that she was in trouble. Not only her, but innocent bystanders.

"Cid, hurry up."

"Don't tell me what to do on my f'kin ship!!"

"Just hurry up." He sounded ready to kill.

"Grrr…..since when did I take orders from an emo vampire?!" He complained, but nonetheless, he made the ship go faster.

* * *

It seemed to take forever, but they finally found Vira. She was alone, in the outskirts of the town. Vincent quickly ran from the Shera, but stopped when he was a couple of meters behind her. He couldn't see her face, since she wasn't facing him.

"Vira..." He called her name softly, but she didn't respond. "Vira." He tried again, his voice firm, and she slowly tilted her head in his direction. He still couldn't see her face properly though.

"Vincent Valentine." Her voice was eerie and unhuman, sending a chill done his spine.

"...Why are you doing this?" He remained expressionless as he watched her turn around to face him fully. But when he saw her eyes his own eyes widened a little. They were blood red. An evil smile resided on her lips. This was definitely not Vira.

"Vincent Valentine. It's a pleasure to finally meet you face-to-face. I have been looking forward to this day for a long time."

"What did you do with Vira?"

"Vira? The poor pathetic little girl is hiding, too afraid to face the real world. But let's not worry about her. It's just you and me now." She started to move towards him, her expression never changing.

His hand slowly slid down to Cerberus and he readied himself to fight her.

"What's that look for? You wish to fight me? Well, I had no intention of doing so, but since you are so eager to die, go ahead." She stood back-her every move seeming to mock him.

"Give Vira back her body."

"Her body? Don't be silly, Vincent, this body was made for me. I have been waiting for so long to finally take control. She was never strong enough to contain me, so all I had to do was wait. Every now and then, I would remind her how useless she was, convince her that everyone was out to get her and she finally broke. And I have you to thank for all this."

"What?"

"When I first saw you, I thought that you would be a problem. She trusted you to much, and she stopped listening to me. But I waited for the right time-the point just before she began to trust you completely, she had doubts. And of course I was there, making the doubts grow. Now she thinks you're trying to hurt her. Not that it matters. She won't ever control this body again."

"You're wrong."

"Oh, really? What are you going to do about it Valentine?"

"Stop you."

"And how will you do that? Try to kill me?" She burst out in laughter. "What a great plan! Ah, you forget, this is still her body. Destroy it and she dies."

His expression turned to pure livid with hatred of this new creature. "I will find a way."

"You keep thinking that, sweetie. In the mean time, while you think up your amazing plan of trying to save a weak little girl that has no hope, we shall play." Her eyes glowed menacingly, and she summoned her weapons, two blood red katanas. Then she charged.

He moved into a fighting stance, readied Cerberus, and prepared to dodge her attack. She was however, twice as fast as he had predicted. So by the time it took him to do these things, she was already behind him. He managed to move just in time to evade the deadly swipe of her first katana, but the second slashed him across his other side. He shot at her, but she jumped back, evading all the bullets in a graceful manner.

"Is that the best you can do? And they say that you helped defeat Sephiroth and took down the Tsviets. I'm disappointed."

Her voice annoyed him, making him even angrier. But he stopped himself from attacking her, and returned Cerberus back to its holster. "I do not wish to hurt her, so I shall not fight you."

"Oh dang. You're boring." She sighed in annoyance and folded her arms over her chest. "Hmm...maybe I'll go have some fun with Shinra. Hojo still needs to finish making me perfect...then I'll kill them. Yes, that sounds fun." She smiled happily, lost in her own thoughts.

"No."

"Excuse me?"

"I won't let you go back to Shinra. I promised Vira that I would never let them have her again."

"That's a nice story, but honestly, I don't care. Once I am complete I shall kill you anyway."

"It shall not get to that."

"Hm. You're so positive. Kinda makes me sick. Why don't you just face the facts? Vira's not coming back and there's nothing you can do for her."

"……Cid."

"Yeah?!" The captain called out from the stairs coming out of the Shera.

"I want you to leave."

"What!?"

"Go back to the others."

"Why the hell should I do that?!"

"Because I need you to."

"What about Vira? That…that thing?!"

"I will take care of her."

"What about you?"

"I will be fine."

"And I'm supposed to believe that?"

"Yes. Now go."

"...Whatever you say...just don't get yourself killed."

"I didn't plan too. Tell the others to head over to the rebuilt Shinra building."

"Alright...I don't know what you're planning, but it better work!" With that, he reluctantly climbed back onto the Shera, sending the gunman one last uncertain glance.

Vincent turned once again to face the monster before him. "I will finish this."

"..." Her dark hair covered her face as she stared at the ground, so he could not read her expression. "Vincent..."

"No..." His eyes widened as he recognised the voice. "Vira..."

"Vincent please..." She raised her head and her tearstained face met his. "...I'm so scared...I don't know what to do..."

"Vira..." Seeing her like this-in so much pain and fear-teared at his heart. It felt like someone had stabbed him with a knife. "...It's okay. You don't need to be afraid...I'm here..."

"But Vincent...I..." She suddenly stopped in mid sentence and fell to the ground screaming-while clutching her head.

"Vira!" He quickly ran to her side and knelt down next to her, but she pushed him away screaming, "Get away from me! Before it's too late...before..."

"Vira! What..."

He saw something dangerous flash in her eyes and quickly jumped back; just in time to avoid being slashed by a katana. His glare was returned by blood red eyes.

"Don't even try to help her." The monster's voice was cold now, no trace of sarcasm or enjoyment left.

"Vira is still in there and I will help her."

"Try if you must...but I will kill you before I allow that to happen."

"Very well."

He considered his options carefully. There wasn't much he could do at this point.

'_I can't risk hurting Vira...I have to get her to go to Shinra...That is the only place where I will find a way to help her.'_

"Didn't you say something about Shinra before?"

"Yes...why do you care?"

"Why do you want to kill Hojo?"

"Because...that asshole thinks he has control over me...Vira may be scared of him, but I am not. I shall prove that by destroying him and everything he has every worked for. Then I will kill the rest for pure amusement."

"...I see. Why don't we finish this battle later then?"

"I thought you weren't going to let me go?"

"I...I want to kill Hojo as bad as you do. I shall meet you there and we shall destroy him."

"What, like a team? Sorry, I don't do that."

"No...I meant that whoever gets to him first kills him."

"That sounds fun...alright, you're on. But I will get to him first, then I will kill you."

"I'm not wasting my time here."

"Hmph." She smiled and then started to walk away.

Vincent headed in the other direction. When he was far enough away, he pulled out his cell phone and dialled Cloud's number.

"Cloud."

"Vincent? What...were are you?! Cid just came back and he told us all to go to the Shinra building..."

"Yes. And when you get there, evacuate everybody you find."

"W-what? Why?"

"There will be nothing left of that building by the end of the day. But you have to hurry, or they will all die."

"Okay...but...what happened to Vira? Is she okay?"

"You will see." And with that, he hung up and headed to Shinra.

This...is going to be hell.

* * *

**This chapter is pretty crappy...can you tell that i got lazy? o.o;;**

**maybe if i get more reviews the next chapter will be better...hint hint :D**


	10. Chapter 10

**OMGosh! I am so sorry about the late update. So so so so sorry! Dx  
But I have some lame excuses...  
1. Schoolwork. Damn those assignments.  
2. I have been uploading pictures to DA like crazy and working on 2 mangas...  
3. I HAD ABSOLUTELY NO INSPIRATION FOR THIS STORY AT ALL. I hate it. SO MUCH. I couldnt write anything on it at all for ages and in that time, I wrote 18 other chapters on my other story. And 4 other chapers on another different story. So yeah...but good news! My inspiration has returned out of the blue and now I will continue to write much much more on this story, updates should be coming sooner, but I'm not promising anything!  
I'm am really sorry for the long wait...really sorry! TT.TT**

**Disclamier: Can't be bothered. x.x**

* * *

**Chapter 10**

'_I wonder where I am...' _The girl looked around, observing her surroundings. There was a lot of old machinery and experimental set up. _'It's really cold down here...wait...this looks familiar. That's right, I've been here before.' _She closed her eyes as all the unpleasant memories came flooding back.

"This is the Shinra basement..." She trembled as she said the words, not willing to accept the fact that she was here.

"Long time no see, Vira."

She turned around in shock and tears fell from her eyes when she saw the man from her nightmares. "No..."

"Welcome home."

* * *

'_Where the hell is she? I searched everywhere and I can't find her or Hojo's lab...maybe it's hidden somewhere.'_

Vincent crept along silently, even though the entire building had been evacuated. He was currently in the lowest floor of the building-where all the scientists performed their experiments-and was searching for some sort of switch or hidden trapdoor that might lead to Hojo's hidden lab. Finally, he came across a table in the far corner, where everything looked neat and tidy, except for one flask which looked out or place. He pushed it inwards and the table moved back, revealing a trapdoor.

'_That was way to easy...I'm getting a bad feeling about this.'_

He considered his options for a moment, before entering the passage, gun drawn.

* * *

"Ah...looks like Vincent has finally entered the passage. Took him long enough, even though I made the entrance incredibly simple! Maybe he's not as smart as he used to be..."

"Don't talk about him like that! He's going to destroy you and your evil plans, I know it!"

The scientist burst into crazed laughter when he heard the girls claim. "Ohohoho...did you not understand anything that I just explained to you? Poor little girl...why don't you watch as he is rendered completely helpless."

A look of sadness crossed her face when she glanced at the screen of a nearby machine, which showed Vincent moving down the passage towards a door. He paused before opening it, but when he did, he was hit by a dart and knocked unconscious.

The scientist frowned in disappointment. "You've got to be kidding me. A dart?! I thought that the great Vincent Valentine would make it past that...I was hoping that he'd make it far enough to face my newest invention..." He patted the robot next to him. "Don't worry, sweet. We'll test you some other time. I guess Valentine's just getting really old..."

"Shut up! Stop saying that!"

"I would watch your mouth if I were you..." He smirked as he walked over to the giant glass tube that she was currently trapped in. "I don't need to make this any more painful than it has to be."

"I don't care! Nothing you can do will hurt me any more than it already has!"

"Well...let's see about that..." He cackled evilly as he flicked a switch next to the tube.

* * *

'_Just as I thought...he's not that smart, for a scientist.'_

Vincent quickly sat up and moved to the next room as soon as he saw the scientist walk away from the window that he was using to observe the 'unconscious' Vincent. This man, whoever he was, was definitely _not_ Hojo. Hojo knew that such a simple tranquilliser would never knock Vincent out. Even if he had lost Chaos, he still wasn't human. Too many experiments had changed his body in the past.

As he moved to the door, he froze when he heard screams.

'_Vira...'_

He quietly snuck in the room and came up behind the scientist, who was too busy laughing to realise he was there. When he pressed the gun to the back of his head, he smirked and turned to face him.

"Why hello, Vincent Valentine. Welcome to my wondrous laboratory."

"Turn it off."

"What? Oh...yes..." His smirk widened as he watched Vira banging against the glass while writhing in agony. "She looks pathetic, doesn't she?"

"**Turn it off.**"

"Why? Do you want her to die?" He laughed and pointed to the tube as a green glow started to fill it-blocking Vira from view and her screams also died.

"What...? Mako?"

"Yes...she needs it or she dies. You remember, don't you?"

"Then why is she in pain?"

"Heh. Why, oh why? You ask a lot of questions Valentine...alright, alright..." He sighed as Vincent pressed the gun against his forehead harder. "When someone is exposed to that much mako, it tends to be a bit painful."

"How much?"

"Oh, something like...ten times the dosage that a 1st class SOLDIER is exposed too." He grinned at Vincent's expression.

"Ten times? Five times is enough to kill a human!"

"Yes, but she's not human. I thought you already knew that? After this dosage, she will no longer need regular treatments...I just not sure if her body will be able to handle it...hey, don't look at me like that! You think I would kill my most prized experiment that I've worked so hard to create? Oh, master would be so pleased..."

"Don't talk about her like that. She is no longer yours. And you will be dead soon anyway."

"Me, dead? I don't think so! How stupid are you? Do you not realise that I hold all the pieces in this game?"

Vincent smiled as he pressed the gun against him even harder. "Hard to believe that right now."

"What will you do? Kill me? What will happen to Vira then? Do you even have any idea what to do before she drops dead? If you just leave her like this, then the mako will kill her. Her body cannot take any more, no matter how strong she is."

"...do what you need to do then."

"Ah, but I have some terms of agreement."

"Like what?"

"I will leave here, taking Vira with me and you shall not stop us. I must go elsewhere to continue my work and before long, she shall be complete."

"You have to be insane if you think I'm going to let you take Vira and turn her into a monster."

"She's not a monster...she's a weapon. A wonderful weapon which I will use to destroy Shinra and everything on this planet!"

"No, you won't use her for anything. I won't let you."

"Hmm...very well then. I'm going to leave now, Valentine."

"What?"

"Leave her in there for five more minutes. Then she should be okay. Eventually, you will have to come back to me or she will die. I will be waiting-Vira will know where. I look forward to meeting with you again...Vincent Valentine..."

"Wait, what--" Before he could finish his sentence, there was an explosion and he was thrown backwards against the wall. He quickly regained his balance, got up and peered through the smoke, looking for the man, but he was long gone.

"Dammit!"

Soon, the smoke cleared and he walked over to the glass tube, flicking the switch and watching as the green glow disappeared, revealing a crumpled figure lying on the ground. He opened the door and called her name, but got no response. He pulled her out and moved her into a sitting position against the wall.

"Vira..." He shook her shoulder and she stirred slightly. Then he got up and moved over to the computer, quickly hacking into it and looking for any records that he could find on Vira, but he found none. Giving up, he searched the bookshelves, but once again, found nothing.

'_Dammit! There has to be records of the experiments somewhere...but where would he hide them? And why did he just suddenly change his mind and leave? This doesn't make any sense!'_

"...mm...mmhm? ...Vincent?"

He turned and kneeled down next to her. "How are you feeling?"

"Drowsy...sore...I feel like I've been set on fire..."

"Hm. You'll recover. We need to leave."

"Where...where is he? Where is Hojo?"

"...That man was not Hojo."

"What? But he called himself-"

"That doesn't matter. He isn't Hojo."

"But..."

"Vira, we're leaving. Now."

"Okay..."

He quickly turned around and moved to the door, but then something caught his eye. A bookshelf...normal enough, but something was off. Frowning, he walked over to it, examining the books.

"...Vincent?" Vira picked herself off the ground, resisting the urge to cry out from the pain and limped over to where he was standing. The gunman didn't even acknowledge her presence-he was more interested in a certain old book.

"..." Confused, she just frowned at him. Why was he acting so cold all of a sudden?

"C'mon, we're going." He slipped the book into one of his pockets and started walking away again.

She struggled to keep up with the dark haired man as her body was screaming at her to stop and rest. "Vincent...wait up!"

"We don't have time."

"But I can't..."

"Try harder."

After that, she closed her mouth and concentrated on following him, but she still got left behind and Vincent got irritated when he had to wait for her. "Cant you go any faster?!" He snapped.

"..." She shook her head sadly and stared at the floor.

'_Stupid Vincent...treating me like this...he's not the one in pain! What's his problem?! It's like I upset him somehow...oh yeah...I nearly killed him before...and he still came to rescue me...I guess I should be thankful.'_

"I'm sorry Vincent...why don't you go on ahead? I know my way around this building..."

"...no..."

"Just go! I need to rest anyway..."

'_I really don't want to be around him any longer. I feel so horrible...and the way he's acting isn't helping.'_

"Fine." He replied emotionlessly as he disappeared from her line of vision.

She watched him leave sadly before slowly hopping back to the entrance.

* * *

Yuffie sighed in annoyance as she looked back and forth between the two.

Ever since he had returned, Vincent had shut himself up in his room and when they finally got him to come to the table for dinner, he wouldn't take his head out of this stupid book he found.

Vira looked completely miserable, sitting at the far end of the table. She hadn't touched her dinner either. Yuffie had no idea what had happened between them, but it was annoying the crap out of her. She hated to see one of her friends like this, even if she hadn't known her for very long. Time to make conversation.

"Hey, Vince…ya gonna tell us what happened?"

"Hm." He grunted in reply, not really listening.

"Urghhh! That's it!!" She yelled while standing up, knocking the table, as she grabbed the gunman by the collar; lifting him up. "Stop being a jackass right now and snap out of it!!"

"Yuffie!" Tifa gasped but the ninja didn't let him go, not faltering to glare at his unchanging, emotionless expression.

"Why cant you think about anybody else but yourself?!" She cried.

"……"

"Answer me dammit!"

"**Yuffie**. Take this outside." Cloud stood up as well, glaring sternly at her.

She scowled and stormed out the room, slamming doors as she went.

Vincent slowly followed, but not heading in the same direction as she did.

Vira watched sadly, knowing that that was her fault. Why did she cause trouble everywhere she went? This...this wasn't what she wanted. She was ruining everything. Oh, how she wished she could just leave, but she knew she couldn't. Without Vincent, _she _would definitely take over and destroy the whole planet. Vincent and these friends of his were the only ones that could kill her if the need arises. She _needed_ them.

'But Vincent...he's so mad at me...' She thought miserably. 'If only there was something I could do to make it up to him...Ah! That's it!'

She smiled and stood up, exciting the dinning room and heading to her room, putting her plan in action.

* * *

**Ah! Why is Vincent being so mean? I dont know! Actually, I do, but I'm not telling, you'll have to keep reading to find out! XD**

**I enjoy reveiws. Makes me write faster. -hint hint- x3**


	11. Authors Note

Authors Note:

I have decided to completely re-write Thanks for the Memories, because I hate it and have realised it just cannot be fixed. So I am going to delete all the current chapters and re-write it from scratch. My inspiration for this story has returned, but I just cannot stand to keep such horrible writing anymore.

I know that the new one will be much better and I will make all the characters more like they actually are-Vincent is so out of character it kills me-and I have also played more of the final fantasy games so details should be more correct now.

I want to thank everyone who's reviewed or favourited or just enjoyed reading this story, it really does mean a lot to me. So, thanks.

I hope you will enjoy the new story even more. C:


End file.
